Hurricane Irma Relief Fund

When we sent our last report, initial relief efforts were underway for Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean and in Florida. Unfortunately, several days after our update, Hurricane Maria swept through the Caribbean and caused widespread damage. We have been working around the clock since these storms to connect and coordinate relief efforts with local organizations on the ground.

Over the last month, we supported more than a dozen vetted partners in communities affected by Hurricane Irma in Florida, the British and US Virgin Islands, Barbuda, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. The initial cleanup and relief efforts are transitioning to rebuilding and longer-term recovery.  Your donations are helping by:

• Providing emergency housing, food, clothing, and supplies in Barbuda. The Barbuda Recovery & Conservation Trust, with support from the Waitt Institute and local government officials in Barbuda, is supporting islanders and funding local relief efforts and livelihoods after Hurricane Irma destroyed 90% of the island’s infrastructure.
• Rebuilding the only high school in Barbuda. The Antigua & Barbuda Student Association USA is working to rebuild the island’s only secondary school, which was destroyed in the storm. This will be an important milestone in recovery efforts, particularly for the children of Barbuda.
• Assisting with debris removal in Florida. IsraAid sent teams to Florida to assist families with clean up efforts immediately after the storm as well as to provide emergency relief supplies.
• Buying much-needed supplies and hygiene kits in Florida. Fishing for Families in Need has purchased and distributed 2,000 hygiene and emergency supply kits to families in South Florida and the Florida Keys.
• Purchasing necessary short- and longer-term relief items such as food, water, baby items in the Virgin Islands. Fishing for Families in Need is also working in the Virgin Islands to purchase relief materials from local vendors, meaning that your donation not only provides emergency relief, it also helps stimulate the local market and build economic momentum during this critical recovery period.
• Supporting local rebuilding efforts in St John. Sisterhood Agenda is working on rebuilding and repairing buildings damaged by the storm.
• Rebuilding a Montessori school in St. Croix. Although St. Croix was spared the worst of Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria caused significant damage and residents are rebuilding and recovering from damage caused by both storms. St Croix Foundation for Community Development is working to rebuild the St. Croix Montessori School, which serves students ages 2-12. This will help students get back to school and will serve as a beacon of light, pride, and hope for the island.

As a reminder, your donation to the Hurricane Irma Fund will be used to support relief and recovery efforts in communities affected by Hurricane Irma. In regions where Hurricane Maria and Irma both caused damage, we will coordinate funding from our Puerto Rico and Caribbean Hurricane Relief Fund to ensure that we can maximize the impact on the ground for the swiftest recovery.

Thank you for your support! We will continue to update you on how funds have been used.

Last Sunday, as Hurricane Irma plowed into Florida, my home state, I sat glued to the news.  My family and friends sent me live updates while they had power and phone service.  I nervously waited for the storm to pass and breathed a sigh of relief as they emerged safely.

One week ago, Irma, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to form in the Atlantic Ocean, cut a path of destruction from the Caribbean to Florida. It hit multiple Caribbean islands, including Barbuda, St Maarten, the Virgin Islands and Cuba as a Category 5 storm with historic wind speeds up to 185 mph. The powerful hurricane then made landfall into the Florida Keys as a Category 4 storm as it made its way up the state toward Georgia as a tropical storm.

My family in Florida was lucky, but thousands more were not.  Millions of people are without power and thousands have been displaced. Irma destroyed 25% of homes in the Florida Keys, according to the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, and destroyed 90% to 95% of the structures in Barbuda, according to its Prime Minister Gaston Browne. Reports of extensive damage continue to emerge from throughout the affected areas.

At GlobalGiving, we’re already working with more than a dozen vetted partners in communities affected by Hurricane Irma in Florida, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua, St Maarten, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. We’re communicating daily with these organizations to best understand their short- and long-term needs so that your dollars are put to good use. Your donations are already working to support a range of emergency needs, including:

• Providing food to communities in Florida. The Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida is running food and water distribution for people affected by Hurricane Irma in Brevard, Volusia, Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake Counties.
• Supporting immediate clean-up efforts in the British Virgin Islands, Antigua, and the Dominican Republic. Team Rubicon Global and its team of trained veterans are helping communities devastated by the storm to get back on their feet.
• Replacing vital equipment so that Environmental Protection in the Caribbean can continue its mission of tree planting and habitat restoration in St Maarten.
• Providing gasoline and diesel fuel for evacuees and first responders. People waited in line for up to three hours for five gallons of fuel to run generators and vehicles. Fuel Relief Fund is providing free fuel to help first responders to reach Irma-affected communities. 
• Ensuring families with small children have diapers. Jake’s Diapers is providing long-term diaper kits to families in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Haiti, so that families don’t have to choose between food and diapers for their children.

These activities are just the beginning of the positive change you are helping making happen for those affected by Hurricane Irma. We’ll continue to update you in the coming weeks and months with details of the efforts being support and the impact those efforts are making in the long-term recovery of communities throughout the United States  and the Caribbean.

Thank you again,

Britt + the entire GlobalGiving team