Cash is an effective and immediate way to help, allowing on-the-ground charities to purchase the supplies they need when they need them. 

• • The Salvation Army is providing emergency aid, food, drinks, emotional and spiritual care, and critical supplies to survivors and rescue workers in five states. There are no administration fees associated with Salvation Army donations and 100% of your donation goes directly to disaster relief. You can donate to the disaster relief fund here.
  • Mercy Chefs provide meal service across North Carolina. They are providing meals for hospital employees and patient families. You can donate here.
  • GoFundMe fundraisers are abundant right now, if you want to donate to a specific family. GoFundMe has a vetted group of Hurricane Helene requests and a separate Hurricane Relief Fund. You can donate here.
  • The American Red Cross allows you to donate specifically to people affected by the hurricanes, as a general donation to any disaster, or to a fund called “Where It is Needed Most.” The two general funds allow the Red Cross to use those funds as they need to and doesn’t run the risk of getting caught in an unusable fund. You can donate here.

• • The Salvation Army has both credentialed and non-credentialed volunteer opportunities in the emergency disaster areas. Get more information here.
  • Mercy Chefs is looking for volunteers in Asheville, NC and may have other opportunities available soon. You can sign up to volunteer here.
  • The American Red Cross has volunteer opportunities for blood drives, transportation, disaster teams, and shelters. You can find more information here.

• • It is recommended that if you want to donate physical items, please wait a couple of weeks until the initial cash donations stop coming in and the volunteer organizations are able to assess the needs of each community. Physical items are not helpful until a family is permanently relocated and those items don’t have to be stored.

• • Before you do anything, make sure you are vetting the organization, especially if it’s not one that is nationally recognized like the Salvation Army or the Red Cross.
  • Look for volunteer opportunities with smaller organizations that may not get as much publicity as the Red Cross. For example, this site lists opportunities with local volunteer firefighters, Marion County medical reserve corps, and the Lake County department of health, among others.
  • The American Red Cross South Florida Region has a virtual volunteer opportunity to offer comfort to those affected by the storms. This is a great opportunity to help if you are not in the southern region and/or cannot donate.