Red Cross Mobilizes Massive Relief Effort in Wake of Helene’s Devastation Across the Southeast

Donations urged to help people affected by Hurricane Helene

The American Red Cross and partners are responding across an enormous area extending from Florida to Tennessee as people deal with Hurricane Helene’s overwhelming aftermath. Trained Red Cross disaster workers from across the country are providing help and support as people deal with the storm’s devastation.

Hurricane Helene has caused massive destruction across the Southeast with floodwaters destroying homes and businesses, damaging hospitals, schools, power lines and roadways, and cutting off access to some areas.

Millions of people are without power, and some may have no electricity for some time. For many communities, the unraveling devastation is far from over.

RED CROSS RESPONSE Working with officials and community partners, more than 500 Red Cross disaster workers are focused on providing shelter, food and comfort to thousands with more help on the way. In addition, the Red Cross has also deployed more than 30 emergency response vehicles to help where needed and about two dozen more are enroute. Where it is safe to do so, Red Cross disaster responders are traveling throughout affected communities, assessing the damage and distributing meals and relief supplies.

With partners, the Red Cross has opened or supported hundreds of shelters for thousands of individuals who have evacuated their homes. Families are coming to these shelters at a complete loss. Many don’t know where to turn or the next step to take. Red Crossers are providing help through this process – no one should have to face this devastation alone.

The Red Cross is also working closely with officials to transition to longer-term shelters with robust services closer to those communities that suffered the heaviest damage. Our goal is to make this transition as smooth as possible for people needing shelter.

The storm has also caused the cancellation of numerous blood drives throughout Georgia and the Carolinas. This has led to more than 1,500 blood donations going uncollected. It’s expected that additional blood drives in the Southeast will be canceled, and fewer donors will come out to donate in and around the affected areas due to poor weather conditions.

HOW TO HELP Help people affected by Hurricane Helene. Visit redcross.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767) to make a financial donation. People can also text the word HELENE to 90999 to make a donation.

Individuals in unaffected areas are urged to give blood and platelets now to help ensure patients continue to have access to lifesaving blood. Schedule a blood donation appointment now by visiting RedCrossBlood.org or using the Blood Donor App to help restock the shelves

FIND A SHELTER People can find shelters on redcross.org or the free Red Cross Emergency app. They can also find shelters by following their local Red Cross and local emergency officials on social media, or by monitoring local news.

HELP LOCATING SOMEONE If you need assistance locating or connecting with a loved one because of Hurricane Helene, the Red Cross may be able to help. Call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767), select disaster and provide as much detail as you can to assist us in potentially locating your missing loved one. More information is available here.

If you’ve been affected by Hurricane Helene and need help, please download the Red Cross Emergency app. Our resources are here to guide you through your recovery. If you’re unable to access the information you need, or need to locate a loved one, call 1-800-RED CROSS but please keep in mind the longer wait times due to a large call volume.

It will take days to understand the full scope and magnitude of Helene’s destruction and the Red Cross remains committed to working with local officials and community partners to help throughout the response and recovery process. Powerful storms like Hurricane Helene create more needs than any one organization can meet on their own. We are working closely with the entire response community — government agencies, other non-profit groups, faith-based organizations, area businesses and others — to get people the help they need as quickly as possible.

Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) Through the generosity of our American Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and Disaster Responder members, the American Red Cross is prepared before disaster strikes. ADGP and Disaster Responder members help secure a reliable funding base for disaster relief services that enables the Red Cross to respond immediately, meeting the needs of individuals and families affected by disaster, regardless of cost. Read more here.

ADGP $1M Members: Amazon; American Airlines; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Bank of America; Caterpillar Foundation; Chobani; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; CMA CGM Foundation; Costco Wholesale; Delta Air Lines; Elevance Health Foundation; Enterprise Mobility Foundation; FedEx; Lilly Endowment Inc.; Lowe’s Companies, Inc.; McDonald’s Corporation; Merck; Microsoft; Nationwide Foundation; The Pfizer Foundation; The Starbucks Foundation; State Farm; Takeda; Truist Foundation; VSP Vision; Walmart and the Walmart Foundation; Wells Fargo

ADGP $500K Members: ALDI; Altria Group; American Express; Aon; Bread Financial; Capital One; Chick-fil-A; Citi Foundation; The Clorox Company; Danaher Foundation; Darden Foundation; Delta Dental; DHL Supply Chain; Edison International; Energy Transfer/Sunoco Foundation; Ford Philanthropy; Fox Corporation; General Motors; Google.org; HCA Healthcare; The Home Depot Foundation; The J.M. Smucker Company; Johnson Controls Foundation; Kaiser Permanente; The Kraft Heinz Company Foundation; The Kroger Co. Foundation; Liberty Mutual Insurance; Lockheed Martin Corporation; Mastercard; Mondelēz International Foundation; New Balance Foundation; Paul Davis Restoration; PayPal; PepsiCo Foundation; PetSmart Charities; Salesforce; Southeastern Grocers Gives Foundation & Southeastern Grocers, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie; Stryker; Target; The TJX Companies, Inc.; Toyota; United Airlines; UPS; USAA; U.S. Bank Foundation; Visa Foundation; The Walt Disney Company; The Wawa Foundation; Wesco; Zoetis Foundatio

Disaster Responder Members: 7-Eleven Cares Foundation; Adobe Foundation; The AES Corporation; American Tire Distributors; American Water Charitable Foundation; Ameriprise Financial; Assurant; AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; Avangrid Foundation; Barclays; Bath & Body Works; Big 5 Sporting Goods; Build-A-Bear Foundation; Canadian National Railway Company; CarMax; CDW; Charles Schwab Foundation; Cisco; CNA Insurance; The Coca-Cola Foundation; The Deluxe Foundation; The DICK’S Foundation; Discover; Dollar General; Dollar Tree and Family Dollar; Duke Energy; Erie Insurance; Equitable; FirstEnergy Corporation; Harbor Freight Tools Foundation, LLC; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation; HP Foundation; International Paper; Invitation Homes; Keurig Dr Pepper; Kimberly-Clark Corporation; L’Oréal; The Labcorp Charitable Foundation; Lenovo Foundation; LKQ; Macy’s, Inc.; Major League Baseball; Marathon Petroleum Corporation; Martin Marietta; Masco; Mattress Firm; McKesson Foundation; MetLife Foundation; Neiman Marcus Group; NextEra Energy, Inc.; Norfolk Southern; Northrop Grumman Foundation; Northwestern Mutual; Novartis US Foundation; Old Dominion Freight Line; Pacific Life Foundation; Phillips 66; Prudential; Raymond James; RBC Foundation USA; Reckitt; Reliance, Inc.; Reynolds American Inc.; RTX; Ryder System, Inc.; Santander; Security Finance’s Lending Hand Foundation; ServiceNow; Southwest Airlines; Stanley Black & Decker; Tata Consultancy Services; U-Haul International; Ulta Beauty Charitable Foundation; U.S. Foods; Yum! Brands; Zurich