Helping Hurricane Victims

As we begin 2025, the year of Georgia Trend’s 40th anniversary, it is inspiring to look at some of the state’s jaw-dropping accomplishments over the last four decades. It is equally inspiring to see what takes place under the radar, helping our broader community.

I don’t have to look too far back for inspiration. In late September 2024, Georgia was hit hard by Hurricane Helene, with 34 deaths and extensive damage. Yet communities statewide have united to rebuild after devastating destruction.

Gov. Brian Kemp is asking for $12.2 billion in federal assistance for Georgia, where dozens of counties remain under a disaster declaration. The Georgia State Financing and Reinvestment Commission has already redirected $100 million from a state capital projects fund program to relief efforts, including $75 million for the agriculture industry, which suffered a nearly $6.5 billion loss, and $25 million for the timber industry, which experienced some $1.28 billion in damages from Helene.

The Georgia Department of Agriculture teamed up with the Georgia Foundation for Agriculture to create the Weathered But Strong: Georgia Hurricane Relief Fund, with the support of more than 40 agriculture industry organizations, including Abraham Baldwin College, Lamar Pecan Co., the Georgia Pecan Commission, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension, Dickey Farms, Magnolia Loom, Stuckey’s Corporation and Georgia Farm Bureau. Over $1 million has already been raised to help Georgia farmers.

 Georgia Power had to rebuild some 1,000 miles of power lines, using its dedicated crews as well as contract teams from as far as Canada and California to create a team of 20,000 linemen to rebuild crucial parts of the grid. Georgia Power also donated $3 million to American Red Cross Hurricane Helene relief and assisted Georgians through its Club of Hearts program and Project SHARE, which was started by my father, Georgia Trend Publisher Emeritus Neely Young, 45 years ago in Dalton when he was chair of the local Salvation Army chapter.

More than 700 service members from Moody Air Force Base worked round the clock on the South Georgia base to restore essential services and help families, while over 1,900 Georgia National Guardsmen and Georgia State Defense Force Personnel were mobilized for search and rescue. They cleared trees from 1,000 miles of roadways and distributed supplies across 35 counties. Supplies included 32,000 pounds of water and 24,000 gallons of fuel, as well as food and hygiene products.

In 2022, Amazon doubled the size of its Global Disaster Relief Hub in Atlanta, so when this year’s hurricanes hit, it was able to help communities with critical relief supplies and logistics support. Its partners include Save The Children, the American Red Cross, International Medical Corps, World Central Kitchen, SBP USA, MedShare, All Hands and Hearts and others. Amazon also provided its Amazon Web Services cloud-computing capabilities to access aerial imagery of affected areas, which helped in rescue and relief operations.

In the Augusta area, thousands were left without power, water, internet and necessities. The American Red Cross East Central Georgia division, led by Executive Director Susan Everitt, expanded a one-day aid mission into a broader effort involving dozens of partner organizations, including Augusta University’s Food Is Medicine Program. Together, the organizations turned Augusta’s HUB for Community Innovation into its epicenter of relief efforts and deployed mobile units to provide food, water, baby formula, diapers, toiletries and fresh produce to victims who couldn’t get to the HUB.

Organizers even provided temporary housing and healthcare. Youth Leadership of Augusta and the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Augusta Teen Club worked at the HUB with those hardest hit, packing food bags, loading and unloading donations, and directing long lines of traffic. All told in Georgia, the Red Cross worked to provide 192,000 overnight stays in emergency shelters, 790,000 meals and 184,000 relief items.

The Salvation Army, working with a grant from Aetna, purchased a laundry unit so Augusta healthcare workers without power could have clean clothing. The Augusta response team also provided at least 4,500 meals, 880 drinks and 960 food boxes to hurricane victims. The Salvation Army Georgia division, which also had response teams in Vidalia, Alma, Savannah, Douglas and Elberton, provided food to more than 30 counties across the state.

Georgia clearly cares about its people. This is what makes us great. Please do your part to contribute to ongoing relief efforts in your communities.