Nearly $6 Million in Donations for Florence Relief Distributed to Eastern NC | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

Donations have helped more than 5,000 families
    RALEIGH: Donations to North Carolina's Disaster Relief Fund following Hurricane Florence have helped thousands of North Carolina families with housing, repairs and other needs in the past year. Governor Roy Cooper today thanked contributors as he met with storm survivors and non-profit partners in impacted communities this week.

    "When Hurricane Florence devastated North Carolina, people across the country gave their money and their time to help," Governor Roy Cooper said. "Donations and volunteers are a huge part of our ongoing work to recover and rebuild, and we're grateful for the assistance."

    In total, the N.C. Disaster Relief Fund has raised $5.9 million from thousands of donors after Florence struck in September 2018. Individuals, schools, corporations, small businesses, foundations, and philanthropists make up the majority of the donors.

    Donations have helped storm survivors with rent and mortgage payments, home repairs, utilities, food, and replacement of personal property through grants to nonprofits and community groups. The Golden LEAF Foundation and the North Carolina Community Foundation serve as the grantmaking organizations for the N.C. Disaster Relief Fund.

• As of September 10, the Golden LEAF Foundation has used donations to the Relief Fund to make grants totaling more than $5.4 million to 48 nonprofit organizations and local government entities serving 25 counties. Golden LEAF reports that more than 5,000 households have received assistance from these funds so far.
• The North Carolina Community Foundation in April allocated an initial $1 million in disaster relief grants using a combination of funds from the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund and Foundation's own Disaster Relief Fund. Grants were made to 26 nonprofit organizations serving nine affected counties to help those communities recover.

    See the complete list of grants awarded to date.

    Donations ranged from $1 donated by an 8-year-old boy in Georgia from his allowance, to $412,412 donated by Stephen Colbert and the Late Show, $1 million donated by United Healthcare, and $1.5 million donated by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North Carolina.

    Contributions also came from people who survived Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Hurricane Sandy in New York, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and Hurricane Irma in Florida and wanted to support North Carolina's relief efforts.

    People have also given their time to relief and recovery efforts through volunteer work. Since Florence hit, more than 168,000 volunteers performed over 3.4 million hours of community service. Volunteers staffed storm shelters, served hot meals, delivered emergency supplies and cleaned out flooded homes, and volunteers continue to help rebuild homes and communities recover.

• Contact: Ford Porter
•     govpress@nc.gov