How You Can Help In Albany & South Georgia In Tornado Relief Efforts

Thankfully, I’m getting a lot of requests asking how we can help the people of South Georgia in the aftermath of This weekend’s tornadoes.

The quickest and easiest way is to send a contribution. National relief organizations include The Red Cross, United Way, the United Methodist Committee on Relief among many others. If you choose any of these agencies, it is imperative that you indicate your contribution is for South Georgia storm relief.

There are some groups that operate closer to home. One I’m familiar with is Second Harvest of South Georgia. They’re the good folks Chet wrote about here that have been working to keep children fed since the Albany storms of 1/2/17.  They serve counties across the entire affected area of SW Georgia hit hard by this weekend’s storms.

Another local group recommended by friends of mine is Mission Change. They are “a grass-roots, volunteer-driven 501(c)(3)non-profit dedicated to raising awareness and taking action concerning often-overlooked issues that not only affect our region and our world, but speak to the core of our humanity. From homelessness to food insecurity; under-served inner-city youth to those struggling with drug and alcohol abuse; from the needs of the elderly to those of citizens with disabilities; we at Mission Change are determined to highlight those to whom society often turns a blind eye, putting faces and stories to the statistics that are so easily ignored.”

Finally, the Sherwood Baptist Church of Albany is one of the areas largest churches, and has a dedicated relief fund as well as acting as a volunteer center and drop off location for donations. They appear to be coordinating with the national organization Samaritan’s Purse.

UPDATED: A friend let me know that there are Cook County funds being raised as well. Text TORNADO to 229-379-3604 to find out information about where to get help.

People can also donate at textgovpayments.com/cooktornado those donations will go to burial expenses for people in need, any excess funds will be used to defray the costs of EMS and Fire services for the tornado.

You may make monetary donations at any of the links above.  There will also likely be volunteer opportunities in the days and weeks ahead as cleanup efforts will be extensive, over a wide area, with many families facing individual needs.