FINDING SOLUTIONS: Red Cross delivers water to Center of Hope
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - We told you recently how the American Red Cross is scaling back its recovery efforts now that Tropical Storm Debby has ed.
The need for emergency shelters has decreased, and they’re now left with additional food and water donated by corporate sponsors.
Our Red Cross here at home is finding solutions to what to do with the in-kind donations.
Thanks to corporate sponsors, 8 local non-profits are receiving food and water.
“We had a lot of national in-kind donors who provided us with food and water, and they graciously allowed us to keep it here in the community, and after all the local needs were met, we still had additional resources so we wanted to make sure we can share them with our community,” said Susan Everitt, executive director of American Red Cross of East Central Georgia.
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The Salvation Army’s Center of Hope is one of the organizations the Red Cross is helping.
They received 22 pallets of water.
Janelys Villalta, marketing and pr manager for Salvation Army of Augusta, said: “We’re so grateful to the American Red Cross for donating all of these waters that they were not able to use for disaster relief. Like Susan said, just because they didn’t need them for disaster victims from Debby, doesn’t mean our community does not need them.”
The Center of Hope feeds on average 80 to 90 people a day and is still seeing an increase of people staying at their shelter and eating at their soup kitchen.
“We’re averaging way more meals. It’s almost 800 more meals that we’re seeing for our shelter clients and the community at large in a month. So, you can see the need is definitely growing and it’s there and we’re so grateful that our community partners are helping us help those who are in such need,” said Villalta.
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On Monday, a fundraiser at Your Pie helped Hopes for Hooves. The program helps rescue equines while helping children in the area.
With help from RW Allen Construction and Red Cross volunteers, more than 51,000 cans of water were delivered to the Center of Hope.
Frank Lagorio, a volunteer, said: “I love partnering with the Salvation Army. We work hand in hand. We were back at the tornadoes together in Oklahoma and we ran out of some stuff; they were able to procure the same stuff. It’s like one hand feeds the other. It’s a great partnership.”
And it’s never too late to help. The Center of Hope says they accept water and non-perishable foods year-round.
You can always help by volunteering your time at their soup kitchen as well. Prep starts at 3:30 each day.
Right now, more than half of the people staying at the Center of Hope are women and kids.
If you want to donate or volunteer, visit https://salvationarmyaugusta.galaxydigital.com/need/detail/?need_id=909985.
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