Though it has nearly been a year since Hurricane Florence’s initial impact, communities are still struggling to return to a sense of normalcy. From rebuilding homes to keeping babies happy and healthy, your donations are helping to accelerate community-led recovery in areas that need it most. Here are highlights from just a few of our partner organizations that have been directly involved in serving those impacted communities for the last year.

Five days after Hurricane Florence devastated thousands of homes in North Carolina in the fall of 2018, All Hands and Hearts mobilized to help families begin the home repair and rebuilding process. Project Leader Julieann Jones says, “By providing our compassionate volunteers with the tools, training, and direct community links that make this work so meaningful, we foster a process that not only rebuilds structures but also hope for those that need it the most.” 

In New Bern, North Carolina, more than 4,300 homes were damaged by the storm. One major area of concern for All Hands and Hearts was helping families recover their homes using resilient materials in case of another flood event.  To address this concern, All Hands and Hearts uses styrofoam insulation as a water-resistant alternative to traditional insulation materials. Since March of 2019, the organization has worked on 168 homes, ultimately helping nearly 500 individuals in the process.

Another GlobalGiving partner works with local community providers to serve the 44% of families in Lumberton, North Carolina, that live below the poverty line. Due to limited resources, these families face unique obstacles in recovering from Hurricane Florence, many of which are related to immediate health and hygiene needs. During the month following the storm, Jake’s Diapers responded by sending community providers more than 45,000 hygiene products that were then distributed to 4,000 people. Currently, Jake’s Diapers is helping community partners leverage their funds to serve babies and their families in other ways, such as through improved food quality or through offering better healthcare. 

Citizens of Carteret County, North Carolina were also heavily impacted by Hurricane Florence. More than 60% of the county experienced damage from the storm. The recovery process for impacted families is expected to last up to five years and has caused many to experience homelessness for the first time. For families who were fortunate enough to have a home post-storm, most used all of their resources on repairs or on a new house itself, leaving them with no funds to furnish the space. One of our local partners, Carteret Warriors for Recovery (CWR), was organized in 2018 in response to Hurricane Florence and works to provide furnishings such as mattress sets, dining tables, dressers, and more to storm-impacted families. CWR has currently served nearly 450 families and expects the number of families served to double in the coming years.

Thanks to the generosity of GlobalGivers, nearly $800,000 has been raised by more than 2,500 commited donors. In the upcoming months, we'll be sharing more progress reports regarding relief for those affected by Hurricane Florence to illustrate how your donations are helping to provide relief for the most vulnerable populations.

With Gratitude,

Claire Hilton + the GlobalGiving team

Dear Project of the Month Club Member,

We hope you had a wonderful July! You and the other 551 club members collectively raised $21,833 in support of Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, Inc., a GlobalGiving partner based in Flushing, New York, and their Diminish Food Waste by Rescuing Excess for Hungry project.  This project takes fresh, unsold food and transfers it to organizations for donation. Your support made it possible for them to reach even more food-insecure individuals and also help protect the environment from the methane released by food waste! 

This month, your Project of the Month Club donation will support Project Maji Foundation. At Project Maji, their mission is to get clean water to rural populations of sub-Saharan Africa through solar-powered water kiosks. Water scarcity affects over 1.1 billion individuals. This problem disproportionately affects the women and children who need to travel far distances to fetch water that may still be unsanitary. Not only this, but water scarcity causes people to suffer from water-borne illnesses, stunted growth, and more. 

Project Contributor Rosemary Irons wanted to express her gratitude to you and the rest of the Project of the Month Club supporters for helping them change the statistics: 

“The transformative effect of clean water in rural communities is truly demonstrable; with less time devoted to fetching water, women have more time to pursue and improve their economic situation; and with less sick days and less time walking for water, children have more time for school. Simply put, clean water access restores and transforms time, health, and education in rural economies. With the support of GlobalGiving and its Club Members, Project Maji’s sustainable solution will continue to drive significant change across the continent, transforming the lives of those who have been left behind. Thank you from all of us at the Project Maji Team!”

Your donations this August will go to Project Maji’s Sustainable Solar-Powered Water Kiosks in Ghana project. Through this project, they will be able to build and maintain two new kiosk installations and provide water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) trainings for existing sites across Ghana. The water kiosks are designed to work in harsh environments with low running costs and minimal damage to the environment. Also, Project Maji team members engage community leaders during installation as well as remotely monitor the kiosk post-installation to ensure people have a safe, sustainable water source for years to come.

She also wanted to share how your gift will help the organization reach even more people in the future.

“Project Maji is truly grateful to be selected for GlobalGiving’s Project Of The Month this August....Currently serving more than 50,000 people with 60 million litres of clean water per year, our innovative, fit-for-purpose solution is replacing the thousands of broken hand pumps across the continent, sustainably serving off the grid communities who are otherwise left to fetch water from distant, unsafe water sources...Our vision is to provide 1 million people in sub-Saharan Africa with sustainable access to clean water by 2025. Thanks to the support of GlobalGiving and its Club Members, we are well on our way to achieving this ambition. ”

You can follow along with their impact in Ghana by staying up to date on their project reports. Thank you so much for your incredible generosity! We’re excited to share where your donations will go next month.

Warm wishes,

Alix Guerrier, GlobalGiving CEO

We’re feeling inspired by the work communities are achieving together in the US Virgin Islands. Each of these three beautiful islands is slowly recovering, physically and emotionally.

Here are some of the stories of hope coming from St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas:

• St. Croix Long-Term Recovery Group was able to hire a new Disaster Case Manager. Each manager is assigned up to 80 cases and they work to ensure every client is connected to resources. Unlike in other programs, Disaster Case Managers provide assistance until their client is completely recovered and has a sustainable action plan to thrive post-recovery.
• St. John Long-Term Recovery Group has built 12 homes. They have 15 more homes currently under construction and 53 homes still in need of assistance. “Together we can make these houses a home again,” says Jon Eichner, Director of Operations.
• Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands (CFVI) is investing in the ecological resilience of the islands. They are funding the distribution of native fruit trees to farmers on St. Thomas, native plant restoration in National Park areas on St. John, commercial composting on St. John, and a new Seed Stewards team that will to reestablish the urban tree canopy on St. Croix.
• All Hands and Hearts wrapped up its work on St. Thomas earlier this year after one and a half years of support. They celebrated their successes—6,000 people helped and 930 jobs completed—by hosting a community ballgame in a park that they had revitalized.
• St. Thomas Recovery Team has helped families with middle and high school students learn together about local hazard risks and investigate opportunities for resilience. They’ve also hosted several teams of skilled volunteers to help with their ongoing home rebuilding efforts.

The work is far from over. On St. Thomas alone, there are more than 5,000 people waiting to have a case worker assigned to help them navigate the process of rebuilding their homes and livelihoods, to access counseling or job training, and to work as their advocates with public and private insurance and rebuilding agencies.

Thank you for your support of long-term recovery. We will continue to bring you stories of resilience and strength from these islands.