Recap: Hurricanes Irma and Maria

Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida on Sept. 10 as a Category 3 storm after leaving a trail of destruction through the Caribbean, including significant devastation throughout the Leeward, U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Haiti. And just ten days later, Hurricane Maria became the fifth-strongest hurricane on record to strike the United States and was the worst disaster to affect Puerto Rico since 1928. Thankfully, several generous donors stepped up to help these residents recover by donating to the America’s Charities Disaster Recovery Fund supporting Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

America’s Charities worked with our partner, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, to identify where the need was greatest and where donations would have the most meaningful impact. After diving deep into the needs of those impacted by Hurricane Matthew, CDP identified identified Save the Children as the nonprofit to receive support.

Save the Children’s Impact Summary

Save the Children is providing ongoing support to regions affected by the hurricanes as they continue to recover months after the hurricanes made landfall.  Below are some ways they’ve made an impact so far:

Hurricane Irma

• To date, over 17,500 children and adults have benefited from work your donations made possible. 
• 8,800 children benefited from distributions of diapers and infant care and hygiene supplies, and 2,057 children received blankets.
• Low-income families were provided with $6,000 in food vouchers so that they could focus on recovery knowing that their children wouldn’t go hungry. 
• Approximately 2,500 people received volunteer support to muck out debris and prepare for rebuilding.
• About 250,000 individuals received meal kits. 
• Over 200 children were given access to programs to help them cope with their losses, fears and stresses and build resilience to future crises.
• A $75,000 grant was given to the Early Learning Coalition of Duval County to support the repair of up to 23 child care centers that were badly damaged. 
• 10,300 children’s books were provided to local centers in southwest Florida for distribution to families with young children. 
• Over $1.2 million in grants were awarded to 9 local childcare providers whose services were affected by Irma. 

Hurricane Maria

• To date, nearly 25,000 children and adults have benefited from work your donations made possible.
• 6,720 cases of water has been distributed to over 10,000 families.
• Shelter repair kits were provided to 1,460 low-income families.
• 20 local social workers have been trained to offer psycho-social first aid to children.
• Now that many schools have re-opened, Save the Children’s education team is working with teachers, principals and the Department of Education to ensure that children have access to after-school activities to help them recoup the lost months of learning.

For more information on how Save the Children has responded to those affected by Hurricane Irma and Maria, click here. 

Provide support for long-term disaster recovery efforts: 

Please donate to America’s Charities Disaster Recovery Fund presented by Center for Disaster Philanthropy.