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Released 31 October 2012
Alexandria,
Virginia – As Hurricane Sandy barreled
up the East Coast, leaving mass destruction and power outages in its wake,
The
Salvation Army prepared for a
long-term
disaster response and recovery operation. Feeding has already begun at shelters
in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions and mobile canteen units will deploy
to the areas of greatest need as damage is assessed in the coming days. Crews
will provide food, hydration, clean-up kits as well as emotional and spiritual
care.
In New York
City, officials from the Office of Emergency Management
have appointed The Salvation Army as the lead agency for the City’s Food
Access
Plan, to coordinate feeding at city shelters. For the next few days The
Salvation Army will be serving food at Seward
High School in lower Manhattan where 1,000 people are being fed
breakfast, lunch and dinner.
“It’s
clear now that Hurricane Sandy was and continues to be a major and historic
storm impacting millions of people,” said Major George Hood, National
Community
Relations Secretary for The Salvation Army in the United States.
“Residents of the
impacted areas can rest assured that The Salvation Army will be with them for
the long-haul – providing practical, physical and spiritual support at the
areas of greatest need.”
Current Salvation
Army activities in other impacted areas include:
In
New
Jersey:
-
The
Salvation Army is serving meals,
snacks
and drinks to hundreds of evacuees at 11 shelters in five
counties.
-
While
serving meals at a shelter in Union
Beach, a Salvation Army canteen
and a volunteer vehicle were
flooded when waters rose unexpectedly. Despite the loss of these
vehicles
Salvation Army volunteers continued
to
serve meals to both displaced residents and first
responders.
-
Local
senior citizens found
refuge from
Hurricane Sandy at The Salvation Army building in Red Bank.
-
In
Montclair, The
Salvation Army is operating a “charging”
center for members of the community
needing to charge their
phones, computers, or other electronic devices.
-
A canteen is embedded with Task Force 1, the
State's
official search and rescue team.
Elsewhere in New York:
-
The Salvation Army provided food and shelter assistance at two
locations in Albany as Sandy impacted that area last
night.
-
On
Long Island,
The Salvation Army is assisting the American Red Cross with redistribution of
supplies to eight shelters.
In
Pennsylvania:
-
The Salvation
Army is serving approximately 1,000
meals per day in nine shelters throughout
the Philadelphia
area.
-
In Lehigh
Valley and West
Chester, the Army is providing
meals at three shelters.
In Stamford, CT:
The
Salvation Army maintains a fleet of disaster vehicles and supply warehouses
across the United States
to enable speedy mobilization. There are more than 300 emergency response
vehicles in the eastern and southern United States alone and nearly 600
units nationwide.
In
addition to food, hydration, and emotional and spiritual care, The Salvation
Army is also prepared to provide:
• Clean-up kits containing brooms, mops,
buckets and cleaning supplies
• Hygiene kits
• Shower units
• First-aid supplies
• Communications support
The
Salvation Army also provides a ministry of presence to residents looking for
hope in the midst of turmoil. Pastoral care is available for all those
impacted, but is not a prerequisite for receiving assistance. The Salvation
Army encourages all residents of areas in the storm’s path to stay
informed of and
heed all warnings and evacuation orders. Disaster response professionals
recommend having a three to five day supply of food and water for each member
of your family as well as flashlights, medication and battery powered radios.
The Salvation
Army asks people who want to help those affected by this disaster to visit www.salvationarmyusa.org or call
1-800-SAL-ARMY (1-800-725-2769). Donors may also contribute $10 via their
phone bill by text messaging the word STORM to 80888, and confirming the
donation
with the word, “Yes.”* At this point, in-kind donations, such as
used clothing
and used furniture, are not being accepted for hurricane relief. However, these
items are vital to supporting the day-to-day work of your local Salvation Army.
Please consider giving these items to your local Salvation Army Family Store or
dial 1-800-SA-TRUCK (1-800-728-7825). Checks may be made out to The Salvation Army Disaster
Services Center, PO BOX 1959 Atlanta,
GA 30301. Please designate “2012 Hurricane Season” on all
checks.
For more information on The Salvation Army’s preparation
and response to Hurricane
Sandy, please visit http://blog.salvationarmyusa.org/, www.facebook.com/salvationarmyusa or www.twitter.com/salvationarmyus.
About The
Salvation Army
The
Salvation Army, an evangelical part of the universal Christian church
established in London in 1865, has been
supporting those in need in His name without discrimination for more than 130
years in the United States.
Nearly 30 million Americans receive assistance from The Salvation Army each
year through the broadest array of social services that range from providing
food for the hungry, relief for disaster victims, assistance for the disabled,
outreach to the elderly and ill, clothing and shelter to the homeless and
opportunities for underprivileged children. 82 cents of every dollar The
Salvation Army spends is used to support those services in 5,000 communities
nationwide. For more information, go to www.salvationarmyusa.org.
*A one-time donation of $10 will be added to
your mobile phone bill or deducted from your prepaid balance. Message &
Data Rates May Apply. All charges are billed by and payable to your mobile
service provider. Service is available on Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint
and TMobile. By participating you certify that you agree to the terms and
conditions, that you are 18 yrs. or older, or have parental permission, and
have authorization from the account holder. Donations are collected for the
benefit of The Salvation Army by the Innovative Giving Foundation and subject
to the terms found at igfn.org/t. Privacy policy: igfn.org/p. Text STOP to 80888 to stop; Text
HELP to
80888 for help.