Support Children Affected by Hurricane Sandy

This is our final report for the "Support Children Affected by Hurricane Sandy” project. Your generous support allowed Save the Children to immediately deploy teams to some of the hardest hit areas following Hurricane Sandy’s destructive hit to the east coast. 

Save the Children’s Post-disaster Immediate Response Programs Reached More Than 43,000 Survivors and Included:

• Emergency care for 1,485 children in 16 shelters through our Child-Friendly Spaces program
• Distributions of supplemental feeding for children in shelters (equivalent to 15,545 healthy meals), in response to the fact that children were receiving less than 900 calories per day during the initial six days because there was not enough food in shelters
• Distribution of items, including: winter clothing, diapers, infant hygiene materials, and other vital supplies
• Assistance for 18 school and child care sites to support their ability to reopen and start serving children again

Months after Sandy devastated the East Coast, Save the Children’s response and recovery teams are still in New York and New Jersey, working with families, communities, and partner organizations to provide long-term assistance to help families return to normalcy, send their children to school, and have access to child care.

Save the Children’s Long-Term Hurricane Sandy Response Includes:

• Child Care and School Recovery – collaborating with large child-focused agencies to coordinate child care and school resources and recovery efforts
• Psychosocial Support: Journey of Hope Program – building strategic partnerships with mental health agencies and state agencies help children and adults cope, build on their natural resiliency, and strengthen their network of social support—to help them recover from the fear, loss, and stresses related to Hurricane Sandy
• Advocacy and Strengthening Child-Focused Preparedness – a critical role for Save the Children is to improve the ability of New York and New Jersey—and the U.S. in general—to better protect children when disasters strike

Thank you again for your support. Please consider supporting one of Save the Children's other projects. You can find a complete list here: https://www.globalgiving.org/donate/832/save-the-children-federation/.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Save the Children rushed to the aid of girls and boys in hard-hit New Jersey and New York.

One of the children struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy is 4-year-old Didi. When the worst of the storm was over, her family tried to go home, but the heat wasn’t working. It was just too cold for the little girl, so they came to a shelter where Save the Children provides relief services.

Didi participates in our signature Child Friendly Spaces – safe areas in the shelters where kids can begin to recover from disaster-induced emotional distress. Our trained professionals offer support and structured play with age-appropriate activities, such as arts and crafts, jump ropes, books, toys and board games. We’ve helped children in Child Friendly Spaces after many other disasters, including the Haiti Earthquake, Joplin Tornadoes, Hurricane Isaac and Japan Tsunami.

What’s more, we’re providing parents with the supplies they need to help keep kids clean and healthy, such as diapers, hygiene supplies and nutritious snacks. To help keep children warm, we delivered cozy blankets, onesies, jammies, hats and mittens throughout the affected areas.

Hopefully, Didi will be able to go home soon and won’t have to spend the holidays in a shelter.