The Community Foundation for the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) has granted nearly $2.5 million to support immediate relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Helene. This initiative aims to provide critical assistance to the affected communities, ensuring they receive the necessary resources to rebuild and recover.
These funds are aimed at providing critical assistance to affected communities across multiple counties. Each grantee is working diligently across various service areas to ensure that the relief reaches those who need it most.
Explore the data points below to gain a deeper understanding of how these funds are being utilized to make a meaningful impact in the lives of those affected by Hurricane Helene.
The Following Nonprofits Received
Funding Through the
Hurricane Helene Community Crisis Fund
Funded on October 22 – $743,000
The Red Cross is uniquely ready when help can’t wait. After the response phase of our mission delivery, the Red Cross will focus on recovery, which includes casework services and financial assistance. Trained Red Cross workers help families establish a recovery plan with critical community partners, that will help those clients transition temporary living situations back into permanent housing. These services can range from completing paperwork to securing legal and financial guidance, all of which help families overcome barriers to recovery.
Consistency is vital for the development and emotional well-being of children with special needs, and their therapy is essential. Being able to re-open so that families can return to work to provide for their families is crucial in times like these.
In response to the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene, the Augusta Dream Center has rapidly expanded their services to meet the increased needs of our community. They are now offering free shower and laundry facilities to anyone affected, providing essential supplies such as towels, shower products, and laundry detergent. Recognizing the urgent need for assistance, they have also mobilized a team equipped with chainsaws and other tools to help clear debris from homes and driveways.
CSRA EOA is here to help families with whatever they need most to stabilize so the recovery process can begin, lighting the way forward through this dark time.
Edgefield County Churches Helping Others
ECCHO is always there for families in need in Edgefield county however, Hurricane Helene has left many in an unexpected bind. Direct emergency financial assistance during times like these can bring peace of mind to an already stressful and traumatic experience for those they serve.
Edgefield County Youth Empowerment Center
In response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, EC YEC launched a range of free relief efforts to support affected students and families in our communities including a few stress relief camp where students could engage in counseling, team-building and creative expression to help them cope with the emotional trauma of the storm.
Seeing the number of families needing food double since Hurricane Helene, Manna is serving McDuffie, Warren, and Wilkes counties by providing a weeks worth of groceries.
St. Vincent de Paul Society Georgia
The Queen of Angels St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) Conference is offering financial assistance to all families in McDuffie, Warren, Glascock, Lincoln and Wilkes counties as well as the communities of Harlem and Appling who have missed work due to Hurricane Helene and are now struggling to make ends meet.
The Jessye Norman School of the Arts
JNSA made it’s building and other assets available to staff, families, students, board members, and neighbors during the Hurricane Helene recovery period.
In partnership with Aiken Electric Co-Op, WIU will provide Edgefield County residents with generators in addition to serving 3 hot meals per week to accommodate them until power can be restored.
Funded on October 8 – $1,595,000
ACTS’s primary focus is to provide food assistance through their daily food pantry and 8 rural community distributions. Anyone in need of food in Aiken County can come to ACTS to receive a week’s worth of food based on their family size.
Augusta Locally Grown, true to its mission, understood the impact that Hurricane Helene would have on our local farmers and immediately began to purchase fresh produce direct from the source to provide food for families in need while also helping to prevent complete losses to our agricultural community.
The farms and cooperative programs of Black Farm Street were unfortunately impacted by flash flooding and major debris, temporarily halting their ability to grow and distribute produce yet they are committed to starting over once their fields dry up. In the meantime, they have shifted their focus to community support through the distribution of essential items to homebound seniors and families in rural communities in the CSRA.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Augusta
BGC Greater Augusta began to immediately assess the needs of the families they serve and began to mobilize their fleet of vehicles to deliver food to families in areas where transportation was a barrier, served hot meals to the community on the weekend and opened their clubs for full day camp until school resumed.
Community Ministries of North Augusta
CMONA has seen an increased need for food and water and is meeting that need with their drive through food pantry to distribute emergency food, personal care items and water.
Family Connections
The dedicated Family Connections coordinators in 14 local counties are deeply connected with the community, working with emergency management services and other organizations to provide resources to help families weather the aftermath of Helene.
The Family YMCA stepped in during the crisis, filling a most critical gap by opening their facilities to the community for showers, charging stations and other essentials as well as providing emergency childcare for critical school district, law enforcement and other frontline employees.
Almost immediately, Golden Harvest Food Bank began to receive, purchase and distribute food throughout their 24-county service area in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Disaster boxes of shelf stable food got in the hands of families and individuals in vulnerable communities.
143 Ministries is committed to addressing the immediate needs of the elderly, children, and families that need shelter or tarping for their homes, providing generators for those who desperately need power to run critical health equipment, removing trees and delivering cases of water to the most affected neighborhoods.
RMHC Augusta immediately went to work relocating families staying in their facilities, covering transportation and temporary housing costs. Upon their safe return, RMHC Augusta continued to provide access to lodging for families of children at CHOG as well as families of children whose critical health needs were threatened by continued power outages.
The Salvation Army Aiken County
The Salvation Army of Aiken was prepared to respond to Hurricane Helene and began emergency meal service on the morning of September 27 and has now served more than 13,000 meals across Aiken and Edgefield Counties, ensuring nourishing meals and adequate waster are available in the hardest hit communities and providing extras space in their shelter for those displaced by the storm.
The Salvation Army Augusta Command
The Salvation Army of Augusta at the Center of Hope Shelter and the Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center has been preparing meals and sheltering those displaced by the storm. as the staging area for all National Guard operations for the greater Augusta area. Hot meals, prepared meals and boxes of food staples have been distributed daily since this crisis began as well as hosting their mobile shower and laundry units throughout the community.
United Way of Aiken’s Project VISION program volunteers have been working tirelessly to clear debris from the homes, yards and rural roads of low-income seniors in addition to coordinating sleeping arrangements for linemen, providing hot meals for families and essential supplies to their local partner agencies.
United Way of the CSRA is working to help individuals in Aiken, Burke, Columbia, Edgefield, Glascock, Jefferson, Lincoln, McDuffie and Richmond counties recover from the impact of Hurricane Helene. Funds from this grant will used to provide food, water, financial assistance, housing, temporary shelter, transportation, and help cover monthly expenses.