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For Immediate Release
Friday, September 22, 2017
pressoffice@cns.gov; 202-606-6775
AmeriCorps
and Senior Corps Responds to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma
WASHINGTON,
D.C. – The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal
agency for volunteering and service, has deployed more than 1,800 AmeriCorps and
Senior Corps members to areas impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. This
includes Americans serving with FEMA Corps and AmeriCorps Disaster Response
Teams (A-DRTs), CNCS’s elite, specialty-trained disaster response crews.
In
Texas, more than 800 AmeriCorps members from Conservation Corps Minnesota Iowa,
Montana Conservation Corps, Southwest Conservation Corps, Texas Conservation
Corps, Washington Conservation Corps, and AmeriCorps NCCC -- along with FEMA
Corps and SBP, both AmeriCorps programs -- are supporting recovery activities
in Corpus Christi, Austin, Beaumont, Houston, Brazoria County, and regions of
Coastal Bend Texas
This service
includes volunteer and donations management, disaster survivor assistance,
operations and logistics, damage assessments, and muck and gut operations,
working alongside response organizations including All Hands Volunteers,
Volunteer Houston, and NECHAMA. Nearly 200 additional locally serving Senior
Corps and AmeriCorps programs, including City Year San Antonio, are assisting
with donations and volunteer management.
In
response to Hurricane Irma, CNCS has made available more than 800 Senior Corps and
AmeriCorps members to support operations in Florida, Georgia, and Puerto Rico.
The AmeriCorps members are providing disaster survivor assistance, support for
logistics, and are working with Save the Children to implement child-friendly
spaces in shelter environments. In addition, Volunteer Florida’s AmeriCorps
teams have provided disaster response to more than 8,600 residents, and
locally-serving Senior Corps programs have been involved in emergency food,
shelter, and volunteer operations.
Later
this week, AmeriCorps members will arrive in Florida from the Conservation
Corps Minnesota Iowa, Washington Conservation Corps, AmeriCorps NCCC, and local
A-DRT, Florida Conservation Corps. These disaster response experts will lead
volunteers in debris removal, blue-roof tarping, and mucking and gutting homes.
Following
a disaster, national service acts as a force multiplier, providing key
resources and significantly expanding the capacity of existing organizations on
the ground. Through all its programs and initiatives, CNCS helps communities to
prepare for, mitigate, respond to, and recover from disasters.
In the
years following Hurricane Katrina, CNCS sent more than 40,000 AmeriCorps and
Senior Corps members to the Gulf Coast region who managed the bulk of the 1
million volunteers who arrived to help rebuild. Since then, AmeriCorps and
Senior Corps teams have provided critical support after countless disasters, including
Hurricane Sandy; last year’s Louisiana flooding; tornadoes in Joplin, Mo.,
Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Moore, Okla.; the explosion in West, Texas; and the Deepwater
Horizon BP Oil Spill.
To learn
how to help and sign up to receive updates, visit www.NationalService.gov/2017Disasters.
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