(Updated, 11:25 a.m.)
PROVIDENCE – In the aftermath of the flooding last week, social service agencies found themselves responding to hundreds of displaced families while corporate Rhode Island started opening its wallets to donate to the response.
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The United Way of Rhode Island said companies donated $550,000 for flood relief efforts in less than 24 hours of fundraising. The organization launched the Rhode Island Flood Recovery Fund to assist with expenses not covered by Federal Emergency Management Agency, private insurance or the U.S. Small Business Administration. United Way CEO and President Anthony Maione said the money would eventually flow back to fill needs identified by local nonprofit groups and social services organizations that will need help long after the media attention recedes.
“We’re tying to have a fund where we can stay in the game a while longer,” he said.
Companies contributing to the fund include pharmaceutical giant Amgen ($100,000), the Rhode Island Foundation ($100,000), Brown University ($50,000), Amica Insurance ($35,000), insurance company FM Global ($25,000), Cox Communications ($25,000), Target ($25,000), defense contractor Textron ($20,000), National Grid ($20,000), The Washington Trust Co. ($15,000), Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island ($10,000) and Verizon ($10,000). In addition, United Way put in $100,000 itself.
“Most of the corporations I’m talking to, they’re Rhode Island corporations, they’re up close and personal to this disaster and they want to help,” Maione said.
Elsewhere, the Hasbro Children’s Fund – an arm of the Hasbro toy company – and the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust each donated $100,000 to the American Red Cross Rhode Island Chapter.
“This week’s floods made a devastating impact on Rhode Island, and we want to do everything we can to help the state and its residents recover as quickly as possible,” said Eileen Howard Dunn, vice president of the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust.
Teddy Hampton, the disaster relief operations job director at the Red Cross, said the organization had served more than 4,000 meals, provided more than 12,500 snacks and handed out more than 1,300 cleanup kits since it began its flood response on March 31. The Red Cross also has provided 19,500 of so-called bulk items such as bleach and potable water. The organization brought in 45 staff members from around the country to assist, including people from California, Kentucky, Maryland, Indiana and Alabama, where Hampton came from.
The local chapter hopes to raise enough money to cover the costs associated with the extra staff and overall disaster response. Hampton estimated the staff costs alone for the local chapter would total between $200,000 and $250,000.
“When something like this happens, this far exceeds their financial capacity,” Hampton said. “Any donation they can receive, it’s just important for that whole operation.”
United Way and the Red Cross both directed people interested in donating to their Web sites at www.uwri.org and www.riredcross.org. The state of Rhode Island has also set up a central flood response Web site with donation information at www.floodrecovery.ri.gov.
