Guide: How You Can Help The Communities Impacted By Hurricanes Helene and Milton
Guide: How You Can Help The Communities Impacted By Hurricanes Helene and Milton
Hurricanes Helene and Milton devastated communities from the Gulf to Appalachia, leaving entire towns displaced, millions of people without power, and hundreds of lives lost. Sierra Club staff in the region put together this list of trusted, on the ground organizations that need our support.
Our thoughts are with the communities who are dealing with the devastation from these storms, and our gratitude goes out to the first responders and aid organizations who are risking their own safety to help others. Neighbors are offering each other food, water, and shelter, joining together to build community resilience in the face of horrific loss.
Please consider donating directly to the following organizations that are assisting with rescue efforts and disaster relief:
Appalachian Region (Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia)
Appalachian Voices has compiled a list of resources and ways to give to verified organizations accepting online donations for relief.
North Carolina
Donate to NC Disaster Relief Fund to Help with Helene Recovery
Florida
The Miami Foundation is accepting donations for the Florida Grassroots Hurricane Community Recovery Fund
Red Cross
We Are St Pete Fund
Feeding Tampa Bay
St Pete Free Clinic
Georgia
Mutual Aid Disaster Relief is a grassroots disaster relief network based on principles of solidarity, mutual aid, and autonomous direct action.
South Carolina
The United Way Association of South Carolina Disaster Fund is underwriting all administrative costs and dispersing 100% of the funds it receives. You will be able to choose the county you’d like to help, if interested.
Helene is one of the deadliest and most costly storms to hit the mainland United States in the modern era. The hurricane fed off record warm water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, supercharging its power. Just a few days later, Hurricane Milton broke records with unprecedented increases in wind speed and size.
These storms come at a time when extreme proposals seek to block climate action and dismantle weather agencies critical to tracking hurricanes and coordinating disaster response.
The science is clear that climate change is causing weather events like this one to be more frequent and more intense. Disasters like this aren’t just a tragedy – they are a crime. Fossil fuel CEOs have known for decades that burning coal, oil, and gas would cause devastating effects like this, but they continued to spread misinformation and lobby against clean energy for their own personal profit, no matter the cost to everyday people and our communities. These unnatural disasters will only become more frequent and more extreme. Unless we act.
For more of Sierra Club’s response to Hurricane Helene, please see our press release and article in Sierra magazine.
Make no mistake: the unimaginable devastation we’re seeing across the Southeast is the climate crisis in action. As long as we continue with the status quo of unchecked fossil fuel use, these disasters will only become more frequent, more severe, and more deadly. We must act with urgency to transition away from dirty fossil fuels to clean energy that cuts climate pollution, and we need to support leaders who understand that dire need for action.
Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous