October 29, 2018
Appeal code: 628H – 2018 U.S. Hurricane Appeal
This appeal serves as an update to the September 20 Hurricane Florence Appeal
Situation
Hurricane Florence slammed into the North Carolina coast on September 14, bringing with it historic leveling of rain. Just a few weeks later on October 10, Hurricane Michael struck the Florida panhandle with vicious force and then brought even more rain and power outages to beleaguered North Carolina. At least 36 people were killed in Hurricane Michael.
Now, children and their families are facing a long road to recovery. Our team has been assisting them for weeks and will continue to provide relief to vulnerable affected communities for months or years to come.
CWS Response
Our immediate response of supplying CWS Hygiene Kits, Emergency Cleanup Buckets, School Kits and Blankets continues. To date, we have shipped over $2 million in supplies in response to both Hurricane Florence and Hurricane Michael.
As we shift to mid- and long-term recovery, we anticipate focusing on supporting farmworker communities. Crops have been severely damaged in both hurricanes, which will limit employment opportunities for farmworker families, who will likely need assistance in the medium term. We are in contact with farmworker service providers in Florida and North Carolina and have already convened conversations among farmworker groups in Florida. There is a need for cleanup buckets among this population, as well as help purchasing basic items like food and diapers. We anticipating assisting the most vulnerable, which will include those not eligible for FEMA assistance.
In North Carolina, we are leveraging the skills and experience of our Immigration and Refugee Program office to respond to the farmworker groups mentioned above and certain refugee populations that have become more vulnerable as a result of the storms.
Budget
Florence Response: $120,000
Materials and Shipping: $50,000
Staffing: $26,000
Initial Assessment: $4,000
Small grants: $40,000
Michael Response: $80,000
Materials and Shipping: $36,000
Initial Assessment: $4,000
Small grants: $40,000
TOTAL: $200,000
How to Help
Donations can be made online at cwsglobal.org/2018hurricanes or mailed to your denomination or to Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515 (designate 628H – 2018 U.S. Hurricane Appeal).
Our stocks on some materials are getting lower, so we encourage you to consider assembling Emergency Cleanup Buckets, CWS Hygiene Kits or School Kits. To learn more, visit cwskits.org.