Helene Teams Deployed: Your Help is Needed

Dear Friends,

As Hurricane Helene continues to devastate communities across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, we wanted to provide an important update on our ongoing relief efforts. Inspiritus teams were prepositioned in coastal Georgia early last week, anticipating the widespread destruction along the southern coast of Georgia and northern Florida. To best support the impacted areas, we established a base camp at Camp Tygart in Valdosta, GA on Saturday to support both the south Georgia and north Florida regions.

Since then, our teams have been actively providing critical relief in and around Valdosta, GA and Madison, FL, including chainsaw operations and heavy equipment support for debris removal. Despite having no power or water at the base camp, our teams are pushing forward to meet the urgent needs of these communities.

“We’ve never seen anything like this” shares Sherry Buresh, Inspiritus Disaster Relief Director.

Hurricane Helene has caused devastation across multiple states since making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Florida’s Big Bend region on Sept. 26. Some areas have seen over 30 inches of rainfall, with storm surges reaching up to 10 feet. More than two million people remain without power across Florida, Georgia, South Carolinas, and North Carolina. Response efforts are ongoing, but many areas, especially communities throughout Tennessee and the Carolinas, remain cut off due to flooding and blocked roads. Tragically, over 116 lives have been lost, with North Carolina reporting the highest number of fatalities and over 1,000 people still missing. 

We are actively monitoring calls with the Florida VOAD, Georgia VOAD, and Tennessee VOAD, as well as Emergency Operations Centers. Given the widespread destruction, and if we secure much needed support, we are hopeful to set up two more bases in other impacted areas, allowing us to expand our reach and operations.

With so many communities still struggling and not receiving the help they need, WE NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE. Your support, whether through volunteering or financial contributions, is critical to ensuring we can continue delivering help to those hardest hit by this storm. Inspiritus staff, clients, supporters and neighbors in our local communities have unfortunately been impacted by this storm and need your help.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

DONATE:

We encourage you to support our Hurricane Helene Response efforts by donating. The more funds we raise, the longer our teams can stay on the ground continuing to help families and individuals impacted by the storm. Your support will provide free Debris Removal, Muck & Gut, Chainsaw, and Mold Sanitation services to help families affected, especially those who can't recover without help.
 

VOLUNTEER:

If you would like to make an impact and empower hurricane survivors on the road to recovery, please consider joining our Disaster Relief Team on the ground in Valdosta, GA and Madison, FL. Our work would not be possible without the support of volunteers like you, committed to assisting survivors in their darkest hours. If you are interested in volunteering, please click the button below.

Thank you for standing with us as we work alongside local communities, partners, and volunteers to provide critical support to those in need. Your generosity and compassion makes all the difference.

Sincerely,

Virginia Spencer
Chief Development Officer
Inspiritus