NECHAMA IS RESPONDING TO THE RECENT TORNADOES
This is a defining moment for disaster response organizations! As you have heard, in a 72-hour period on April 25-28, Alabama and Mississippi were hit by 362 tornadoes with over 300 fatalities. In the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham area alone, 65 people died. The scale of damage from these storms is being compared to Hurricane Katrina! Given the enormity of the damage and the tragically interrupted lives, we can’t lose focus at a time like this. Thousands of our friends and neighbors in those areas need our help.
NECHAMA – Jewish Response to Disaster is on the ground in the Mississippi/Alabama area and is making its deployment plans in order to respond to the overwhelming needs of the people in this region. NECHAMA is initially expecting to deploy for a minimum of four months. Our ability to respond will be dependent upon our ability to raise sufficient funds, hire the necessary staff and purchase the needed equipment to conduct a deployment of significant duration. It will also pay for the increased use of fuel ($4.00/gallon!).
NECHAMA needs to increase its disaster recovery capabilities, thereby serving more victims, while at the same time maintaining its ability to respond to the inevitable natural disasters that will undoubtedly occur during the remainder of this year. NECHAMA will need to leverage incremental resources so that we can help more people, provide increased volunteer opportunities and train other faith-based groups to perform disaster response and recovery. Based upon an initial four-month deployment, NECHAMA will need emergency funding in the amount of $100,000.
Depending upon the availability of sufficient funding, etc., NECHAMA will be in a position to commence our deployment within the next week or so. When it deploys, NECHAMA will coordinate volunteer groups from Federations, synagogues, agencies and other groups of unaffiliated volunteers. We will also continue to coordinate our efforts with our partners in the faith-based disaster response community.
Please contribute funds to make this deployment possible, Click DONATE and/or if you are interested in volunteering in this effort, please contact NECHAMA at 763-732-0610 or email us at Amy Cytron: info@nechama.org.
We will be in contact with you as our plans develop. Thanks in advance for your help and support.
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