In resort towns around the country, the out-of-state license plate has become a bit of a scarlet letter, the marker of a coronavirus refugee taking shelter in a second home. Full-time residents understandably fear that part-timers will overburden hospitals and supermarkets, not to mention spread disease.
On Cape Cod in Massachusetts, some locals have gone so far as to call for closing the bridges that connect the peninsula to the mainland. But in one town—Chatham, at the cape’s elbow—the chairman of the finance committee contemplated the unseasonable parade of fancy out-of-state cars and had a different thought: Why not start an emergency relief fund to help local people, and finance it with donations from summer people? Chatham's full-time population is a little over 6,000; summer visitors exceed 20,000 every year.
“As the greater metropolitan New York area became more of a hot spot, there was an observable change in our automotive demographics,” according to the chairman, Stephen S. Daniel. “A bewildering number of expensive cars—Mercedes, Porsches, a smattering of Audis, even an Aston Martin—were, overnight, cruising the streets. It didn’t take long to figure out that the new iron in town could be part of the solution. These people were here for the same reason I live here full time; I love this town. They love this town.”
Daniel and his wife, Mary Beth, set up an entity they called the Chatham Coronavirus Impact Fund, and seeded it with $30,000 of their own money. They drafted a letter announcing its creation and sent it out. “I’ve got a Rolodex of people with big summer homes,” Stephen says. “I want to put a target on all of their backs.” He got in touch with a developer who builds lavish summer homes and asked for his contacts, too.
The response was swift and enthusiastic. Within days the CCIF had commitments of more than $250,000—some from summer people, some from well-to-do full-time residents, and $100,000 from a local foundation. Two marketing firms—Tidal Marketing and The Right Storey—devised a social media and press strategy, created a Facebook page, and built a website, for free. Two established local charities agreed to handle applications and distribute funds.
Anyone may donate to the CCIF, but only full-time Chatham residents in need can receive distributions. Monthly grants of $800 for a family, or $400 for an individual, will be made primarily to pay for things like rent, electricity, car repairs, and medical care. Payments will be made directly to vendors, not to applicants.
It’s a simple idea, but somebody had to think of it, and the Daniels fit the profile. Stephen, a native of Darien, CT, grew up spending summers in Chatham. He went to college at Wesleyan, then got a degree at the Yale School of Management and followed an entrepreneurial career in finance. Mary Beth grew up in South Hadley, MA, graduated from Mount Holyoke College, and then went into real estate banking. The Daniels settled in New York City and used their money to explore all sorts of ventures that interested them, from shark research to ancient grains.