Help support long-term recovery efforts in Oklahoma

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to our Humanist Crisis Response for those affected by the Oklahoma tornadoes. We’ve now raised more than $45,000 for our two beneficiaries, Operation USA and the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. Recovery efforts are ongoing, and will continue for many more months, but we will be ending this crisis fundraiser on June 26. If you’d like to donate before then, click here. 

Jamaica Walden, Operation USA’s director of operations, shared this update:

We’ve sent two shipments of generators immediately following the initial tornado and the subsequent one. We also had someone on the ground for the past several weeks assessing the material needs of the community and local organizations on the ground. Our CEO Richard was scheduled to go Oklahoma City a few weeks ago, but his trip was cancelled due to the severe weather conditions still plaguing the area. He is now flying in tomorrow and will be meeting with at least five community-based health and mental health agencies to assess what material and financial needs they have in the near and medium term.

We are modeling our response in Oklahoma to what we did post-Hurricane Katrina, and we’ll be granting funds to local agencies with a need so that they can cope with increased demands from the communities they serve. Operation USA is extremely grateful for the support Foundation Beyond Belief has given us in the wake of this disaster.

Our contributions to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma provided 100,000 meals for victims of the storms. Karen Paul, RFBO’s manager of foundations and grants, sent us this report:

We opened our Moore distribution center a few weeks ago. We’re currently serving about 150-200 families on a daily basis through this center. I had the opportunity to volunteer at the center last week. In three hours, I worked with people who completely lost their homes, people who suffered major damage to their homes and people who lost their entire food supply because of the subsequent power outages, which in many cases lasted for days. The Regional Food Bank will keep the Moore center open during the long-term recovery effort, which will be months.

We’ve also opened several MARCs, which are multi-agency resource centers, in the other communities impacted by the tornadoes. These communities include Carney, El Reno, Little Axe and Shawnee. These centers are operated in partnership with other community organizations. They are designed to connect those impacted by the tornadoes with a wide range of beneficial services.

Since May 20th, we’ve distributed more than 1 million pounds of food to those impacted by the tornadoes. We wouldn’t have been able to do this without your generous help. Please thank everyone for us!

Remember, we will be ending this Humanist Crisis Response program on June 26. Until then, you can click here to donate.