Hurricane Florence means business.
updated 09/14/18
In preparation for Hurricane Florence’s impact on the eastern seaboard, The Community Foundation has activated the Music City Cares: East Coast Storms Fund.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has issued dire warnings about the powerful storm, which hit landfall along the North Carolina coast early today.
“The power is going to be off for weeks, and you will be displaced from your home and the coastal areas,” FEMA Administrator Brock Long said.
In times of a disaster, Nashville and Middle Tennessee residents have exhibited a strong desire to lend a helping hand to our friends, neighbors, and oftentimes strangers.
To connect the outpouring of generosity to those impacted by disaster, the Music City Cares: East Coast Storms Fund has been established by The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to help in what will be an extensive, ongoing relief effort.
Grants from the Disaster Relief Fund will be made to area nonprofits providing assistance both immediate and long term, and 100% of donations made will go directly toward recovery efforts.
GIFTS TO THIS FUND ARE NO LONGER BEING ACCEPTED.
Collapsed roofs and other structures were already reported in the Morehead City and New Bern areas of North Carolina, The Washington Post reported. New Bern was particularly hard hit, with reports of more than 100 people stranded in their homes or cars in need of rescue.
The large and dangerous storm was expected to keep battering parts of North and South Carolina today.
“This is only the beginning,” said Chris Wamsley of the National Weather Service, as reported by The Post. “We’ve already seen a foot of rain just north of Wilmington area. We’re still expecting rainfall amounts of 20 to 30 inches, some isolated spots of 40 inches.”
Said Jeff Byard, FEMA associate administrator, at a briefing this morning: “This is not the end of it. Twenty-four to 36 hours remain of a significant threat from heavy rain, heavy surge, not just in North Carolina but obviously down as we move in to South Carolina.”
More than a million people evacuated portions North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia ahead of the storm. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has urged those under evacuation orders: “Even if you’ve ridden out storms before, this one’s different.”
The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and its Music City Cares Fund supports affected communities, victims and their ongoing needs, continuing the CFMT’s disaster response work which started in 1993.
“At The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, we believe that if we CAN help we SHOULD help — and so for the past 27 years we have provided ways to make giving to disaster response easy for both the donor and the recipients,” said Ellen Lehman, president of The Community Foundation.
Lehman continued: “In the wake of Hurricane Florence, we are doing just that. We are making sure that people can give comfortably, conveniently and with confidence that 100% of the money gets to the nonprofits in the affected area. We’ve been there … we know firsthand that the recovery from Florence will be long, difficult and complex. … We want to help!”
Nashville and Middle Tennessee understand so well the trauma of flood. In 2010, the Tennessee Flood was caused when 13.57 inches of rainfall over 36 hours.
Those who have lived through this disaster still remember vividly our own recovery. We remember how much the kindness of strangers from across the world meant to us. We recognize oh-so-well the challenges disasters bring. The layers of need for every disaster unfold differently, but unfold they do.
Now is the time to give.
About The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee
The Community Foundation exists to promote and facilitate giving. It does this by accepting gifts of any size from anyone at any time and by empowering individuals, families, companies, nonprofits, and communities to respond to needs and opportunities that matter. The Community Foundation works with people who have great hearts, whether or not they have great wealth, to craft solutions that reflect their intentions and goals. For more information, call 615-321-4939.
