IKEA Donates $2 Million to Help Virginia Residents Facing Eviction

[Sept. 2, 2020: ISABEL GARCIA]

IKEA is donating $2 million to help fund Governor Ralph Northam's initiative to help Virginia residents facing evictions due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The donation, which Virginia is matching, will go toward expanding legal services for those residents at risk of losing their homes.

"Our Commonwealth faced an eviction crisis before COVID-19 arrived in early March, and the ongoing global pandemic is making this problem even worse," Governor Northam told 13News Now. According to the Washington Post, Governor Northam said that more than a million Virginians have filed for unemployment because of lost jobs due to the pandemic, putting them at risk for eviction.

The IKEA U.S. Community Foundation's $2 million donation is the amount of money that the retailers' Virginia-based employees received in unemployment benefits when its two locations were closed at the start of the pandemic, the Washington Post reports. The Legal Services Corporation of Virginia will use IKEA's donation and the state's funds to hire 20 Legal Aid attorneys over the next two years, so that Virginia residents facing evection will have legal representation if they have to go to court.

“We are appreciative of the ongoing support from the Commonwealth of Virginia, including the unemployment funds paid to our co-workers who were furloughed in the early weeks of the pandemic,” IKEA Retail U.S. president Javier Quiñones said, according to 13News Now. “People are the heart of our business, and these unemployment benefits helped IKEA U.S. co-workers during a difficult time. We now have a better understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on our business, and we’ve decided to pay it forward to support the ongoing relief efforts in our local communities.”

This Brighter Side of News post courtesy of House Beautiful at www.housebeautiful.com.

Like these kind of stories? Get The Brighter Side of News' newsletter.