On July 28, 2022, extreme weather decimated poor communities in Appalachia: 39 people were killed and 2 remain missing. Our Youth Drone Responder Program sends drones, provides training, licenses, insures - and pays - youth leaders in these flooded-out communities who also will receive fresh drinking water and mutual aid disaster supplies to help replace what was lost in these historic floods before winter's cold and to prepare for the predictable climate catastrophes this coming Spring.
Communities in Kentucky and West Virginia are still reeling from the extreme flooding and tragic loss of life. Community members stepped in to care for their own and reached out to Seeding Sovereignty for help. These families lost everything, and their youths are suffering the loss of a future stolen by coal. For these "inland Katrina" communities, fresh drinking water is an issue and for some it will be 2023 before water service is restored. Rebuilding where it's unsafe complicates recovery.
Our Youth Drone Responder Program puts disaster response and mitigation into the hands of those most affected. We send drones, provide training, fund jobs, and distribute fresh water and mutual aid supplies to families who lost everything and will suffer this winter. Safe areas to rebuild can be mapped and critical data can be timely shared through social media networks that connect isolated communities. Youths drone pilots help save lives as they rebuild communities and a future they deserve.
Young people who inherited moonscapes that now flood with extreme weather events will reclaim their voices, and purpose by documenting the truth and getting emergency care to loved ones and isolated community members. We help communities access information they otherwise cannot so they can seek the justice they deserve in the form of insurance claims and rebuilding. We provide jobs for a generation economically damaged by the fossil fuel industry. We prevent deaths with emergency preparation.
