DISASTER RELIEF STORIES
Testimonials from grant recipients impacted by disasters around the world.
There was an ice storm in Oklahoma that caused our home to lose power, in addition to thousands of others. The only shelter I could find that could accommodate my son and pet was a nearby hotel. We were hoping that it would only be a couple of nights, but the outage lasted for 11 days, which became very costly. This grant helped with the hotel cost, allowing me to still make my mortgage payments during our displacement.
The damages sustained to my home during the hurricane created a truly stressful situation - and As COVID-19 basically paralyzed the normality of everyday life, having 8 children at home under shelter at home mandates already had its challenges. This grant saved me from having to choose between fixing my home or providing my kids with essentials.
After being displaced from my home for 3 weeks due to damages from Hurricane Laura, the funds helped tremendously with recouping unexpected out of pocket expenses which were a burden on my financial cash flow. Thanks so much for making this grant available. It will really help especially as slow as my insurance carrier has been with completing the claim process which I am still dealing with more than two months after the storm.
In Texas, the severe winter storm left my family and I without water or lights for four and half days. Our pipes wound up bursting and caused major damage in my home, water flooding our entire apartment. About 4 hours later, after we left to stay with family for the night, another pipe burst and flooded everything again. This grant will help tremendously with recovering things that were ruined in the floods and help to replace food that was lost due to the electricity being out. When unexpected situations arise, and your insurance or finances are not enough, this type of grant really helps.
The reason I applied for this grant was because when the storm hit my family, we were not prepared whatsoever. We had no food for days and any remaining money from our savings went to bills and repairs. We're financially struggling now due to loans being taken out because of broken pipes. Just a few days afterwards my car was completely wrecked in a car accident and i no longer have any guaranteed transportation to get to work. This grant helped me and my family get back in the right direction and allowed me to be able to support my family, after this crisis. This grant award helped me and many others due to how great the impact of the snow storm was. Many others and me experienced loss of basic necessities like transportation due to icy roads, food shortages, or lack of water. This financial assistance greatly helped in repairing my vehicle and allowing me to resume my day to day work schedule.
2020 was a tough year for the Gulf Coast with multiple Hurricanes in our area. Hurricane Salley and Zeta came back-to-back. Zeta caused major roof damage, destroyed my fence, and flooded my home. I did not qualify for help from home insurance or FEMA, and was stressed about how I could repair my home without going into serious debt. A coworker informed me of our company's assistance program - I went online and completed the application and, soon after, I was approved. I am very thankful and blessed to work for a company that not only talks about caring about employees, but also demonstrates their willingness to help during very difficult and stressful life events.
Due to winter storm Uri and the power grid going out, being without electricity caused severe medical issues for my wife. She is on 24-hour oxygen and uses a BIPAP at night, so having no oxygen and no heat was extremely dangerous for her. The emergency tank we had depleted in 12 hours, and there were no replacements to be had as the Dallas area was at a total standstill. This grant allowed us to safely check into a hotel with consistent power.