Day One Relief supports Frontline organizations that are often ignored when it comes to recovery efforts after major storms like Hurricane Helene.
We seek out those who have the hardest time receiving supplies after disasters and work to provide them with the tools they need to survive after their lives have been turned upside down.
Our approach differs from major charities, though.
We believe in communities helping communities, and the best way to make sure aid gets where it’s needed the most is by working with community groups in affected areas.
For the past six years, we have cultivated relationships with hundreds of community organizations across the state of North Carolina. From NAACP chapters to churches to barber shops, we work with those already familiar with sensitive populations that are in need. Our partners know where people on oxygen need a generator to keep them alive, or where there’s a newborn with a sensitive stomach. This allows the materials we provide to have a greater impact with less waste. This also allows us to focus on handling the supply chains and lets the people harmed focus on recovering from the disaster.
For the initial response to Helene, we are partnering with AERObridge to move aid into western North Carolina, where we are working on securing warehouse space to store material, either in in-kind donation or purchased from cash donations. Once the transport system stabilizes and the roads are cleared, we will continue to provide aid to local communities in western NC until they tell us we are no longer needed.
We aren’t here to step on the toes of people already reeling from the effects of this storm, but to help them for the long haul.
The recovery from this storm won’t take six weeks or six months. Western North Carolina will be years digging out from this, as eastern North Carolina was years digging out from the harms done by Hurricane Florence.