By Kayla O'Neill | Partnerships Team
Thank you for your generous support of the Lone Star Disaster Relief Fund. Families have restored hope for the future because you reached out to offer a helping hand. Your donations support a number of disaster relief efforts from our partners including BakerRipley. Here's an update from Shannon Morley-Ragland, Director of Institutional Giving at BakerRipley:
On Thanksgiving morning, Monique Lampkin drafted a letter to BakerRipley’s disaster recovery team.
“Although I was impacted by Hurricane Harvey, I am so blessed,” she wrote. “I am so grateful for how you were a catalyst to help me in time of desperate need. I do not take your generosity for granted. Your care has given me so much hope for 2018.”
Monique lives in Richmond, not far from the banks of the Brazos River. When Hurricane Harvey hit, she wanted to wait out the storm, but had to evacuate to a shelter when the waters breached.
She returned home on Labor Day and, while her home didn’t sustain severe damage, the next couple of weeks threatened to pull her under. She had been working as a substitute teacher after being laid off from her job in the oil and gas industry in 2015, and she was struggling to make ends meet.
Unable to work during the week of the storm and the following days, Monique realized the gap in income could threaten to force her into foreclosure. She had already exhausted all of her personal assets, so she reached out for help.
“Harvey just pushed me over the edge. I can confidently say that without BakerRipley’s help, I would be homeless right now,” Monique said. “They went above and beyond making resources available and known to the community.”
Through our Disaster Case Management program, Monique was able to get extended assistance with her mortgage and to address water damage in her home.
“I count my blessings on a whole different level now. I wanted you to know my story and how much I appreciate it.”
Since the September closing of the shelter at NRG Center, where we welcomed more than 7,500 guests, BakerRipley has been working around the clock to help alleviate the suffering of folks affected by storm and helping them return to pre-disaster stability as quickly as possible.
As of the end of February, we had served a total of 7,825 individuals through our disaster case management services. Through our distribution of basic needs across our community centers, we handed out over 13,000 items, serving 9,801 households. Our home restoration program is currently helping more than 200 families navigate the repair and rebuild of their homes. To date, we’ve completed six homes.
We recognize rebuilding Houston is a long-term proposition and are committed to leading the charge to help this community regain stability and to ensure all our neighbors have equal opportunities to earn, learn and belong—to create the well-being and lives they desire. We can only do that with your support. Again, thank you for the impact you are making!
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When a disaster strikes, recovery efforts led by people who live and work in affected communities are often overlooked and underfunded. GlobalGiving is changing this reality. Since 2004, we've been shifting decision-making power to crises-affected communities through trust-based grantmaking and support.
We make it easy, quick, and safe to support people on the ground who understand needs in their communities better than anyone else.
They were there long before the news cameras arrived, and they’ll be there long after the cameras leave. They know how to make their communities more resilient to future disasters, and they’re already hard at work. GlobalGiving puts donations and grants directly into their hands. Because the status quo—which gives the vast majority of funding to a few large organizations—doesn’t make sense.
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