Immediate Disaster Relief Just the Beginning; Long-Term Recovery Programs Provide Additional Assistance

When a disaster occurs, the American Red Cross mobilizes relief workers and supplies as quickly as possible to meet the immediate needs of individuals, families and communities.

During these early days, we focus on providing safe shelter, food, emotional support, first aid and health services, spiritual care, financial assistance and emergency relief supplies. But this immediate response is not the end of our support. When resources allow, thanks to the generosity of our donors, the Red Cross may provide additional long-term recovery programs to support individual and community recovery needs.

Our Long-Term Recovery efforts may include direct financial assistance to individuals and households; grants for non-profits and community organizations delivering or assisting community wide recovery services; advocacy, technical support, information sharing, and convening of partners to support community organizations; and long-term recovery planning and preparedness and resiliency-building support for communities.

JANUARY CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES For instance, the Red Cross is still supporting people across the greater Los Angeles area six months after the devastating January wildfires. More than $36.6 million in financial assistance has been provided to more than 11,400 households affected by the Eaton and Palisades Fires.

This is in addition to an earlier Immediate Financial Assistance program which provided approximately $12.8 million to over 11,000 households. We have also disbursed $6.4 million in grants to support community recovery and resilience, including Response Impact Grants to community partners like the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, 211LA, Radio Bilingue and the Hope Crisis Response Network. Learn more here.

HELENE AND MILTON 2024 brought the double whammy of the back-to-back Hurricanes Helene and Milton in September and October, and their heartbreaking destruction affecting communities from the Gulf Coast to the Appalachians. Helene’s devastation stretched from Florida north to mountain communities across western North Carolina. Just two weeks later, Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, impacting many of the same communities already hit by Helene. Hundreds of Red Cross volunteers and employees delivered care and comfort to storm-weary residents who were picking up the pieces from the two storms.

All these months later, Long-Term Recovery operations are ongoing, supporting those impacted by Helene and Milton with financial assistance and more. In addition to Immediate Assistance provided in the early weeks of our response, we also delivered Bridge Assistance—additional funds to help the most severely affected households. This assistance helps bridge the gap when a disaster destroys the community’s ability to help itself recover and other large-scale resources may not yet be available. So far, the Red Cross has distributed more than $17 million in direct financial assistance, including Immediate and Bridge Assistance, to help Helene and Milton survivors with their most pressing needs.

Grants are also being awarded to organizations for long-term recovery groups, debris removal, the creation of disaster relief hubs and more, across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Hope for Coffee, in Coffee County, Georgia was recently awarded two long-term recovery grants - a $150K capacity-building grant and a $1 million individual household needs grant to help 58 families impacted by Hurricane Helene. This funding is helping build 8 homes and repair 50 more.

DECEMBER 2021 TORNADOES In December 2021, thousands of lives were forever changed when a band of tornadoes tore across Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri and other parts of the South and Midwest. Homes were ripped apart, and communities were left in shambles. In the immediate aftermath, thousands of Red Cross volunteers and employees deployed to deliver relief and comfort to people reeling from this massive event.

As part of our Long-Term Recovery support, we offered Immediate Assistance and Bridge Assistance to help people afford things like deposits on temporary housing. In addition, we launched our Expanded Recovery Assistance program to help those who continued to face recovery obstacles more than a year later. As of December 2, 2024, we provided $9.2 million in relief and recovery financial assistance to help thousands of individuals and families impacted by these tornadoes.

We also partnered with local nonprofit organizations such as the Community Foundation of West Kentucky to install 130 shelters in six counties in western Tennessee and seven counties in western Kentucky. Another grant went to the Appalachia Service Project in Graves County, Kentucky, to help meet the need for housing. We granted funds to the St. Vincent de Paul House in a Box program to help people needing appliances, furniture and household items.

The Dawson Springs Head Start Program in Hopkins County, Kentucky received long-term recovery grant funding after the facility was damaged during the tornadoes. With additional funding from the Kentucky Funder's Table and United Way of Kentucky and other partners, this vital service was restored to Dawson Springs. The funding supported purchasing building materials and the installation of two storm shelters at the facility.

You can find more information about our Long-Term Recovery programs on our Publications page in reports about the different disasters which have occurred over the last few years.

WAYS YOU CAN HELP Help people affected by disasters like home fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, and countless other crises by making a donation to American Red Cross Disaster Relief. Your gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small, whenever and wherever they occur across the country.

Become a volunteer. Your time and talent can make a real difference in people's lives. Learn more here.