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the Children Continues to Help Displaced Families Following Hurricane Gustav
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On Wednesday, Save the Children staff members were assisting children in more than 20 shelters in Louisiana and Mississippi. Responding to an urgent call for help from Save the Children to meet the needs of infants at several shelters, Toys“R”Us and CVS/pharmacy provided the agency with more than 50,000 diapers, along with baby wipes, baby shampoo, and 200 infant cribs.
“We have been providing as many as 7,000 diapers a day at some shelters,” said Jeanne-Aimee De Marrais, who is managing Save the Children's response to the emergency in the Gulf. “We are very grateful for this additional support.”
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Hanna is growing in strength and could hit the U.S. East Coast later this week. Two other storms, Ike and Josephine, are both moving westward across the Atlantic and pose a potential threat to the U.S. next week. Coordinating closely with the agency's Gulf Coast staff, Save the Children emergency experts in Louisiana and Mississippi have been supplying evacuation centers with items to make infants' and children's stays more comfortable.
Save the Children has distributed 1,500 evacuation backpacks to displaced children. The backpacks provide children a range of items, including personal items such as a toothbrush, soap and a wash cloth, safety items like a flashlight and whistle, and toys such as a Teddy Bear. In addition, staff members have set up Safe Spaces at many shelters. Safe Spaces are designed to let children be children, even in the midst of a crowded emergency shelter, and include a supervised area filled with toys, art supplies, books and games. A volunteer team of New Jersey fire fighters yesterday joined Save the Children’s effort at shelters in Louisiana and Mississippi. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the fire fighters built playgrounds for children impacted by the storm, with Save the Children’s support.
As families leave the evacuation centers later this week, Save the Children plans to work to ensure that child-care centers can quickly re-establish services and schools can rebound so students do not fall behind in their education.
How You Can Help
With your help, Save the Children was able to respond to the special needs of children impacted by the recent flooding in the Midwest, the wildfires in California as well as our ongoing work in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. By donating to the U.S. Emergencies Fund, you can help keep America's children safe and strong before, during and after emergencies like Hurricane Gustav.
Donate to the U.S. Emergencies Fund and support our work. Your contribution will help Save the Children's U.S. disaster
programs focus on four key areas in this and future U.S. crises: creating Safe Spaces in community gathering places; supporting the recovery of organizations that children and families depend on;
offering emergency preparedness workshops for children and their care providers; and building children's and caregiver's resilience. More Information
Meet Trever and his family at a Louisiana Shelter Find out how you can help children by
reading Save the Children's Ten Tips for Helping Children Cope with Disasters Media Contacts_
Mike Kiernan , (W) +1 202-640-6630, (C) +1 202-460-0614Kate Conradt, (W) +1 202-640-6631, (C) +1 202-294-9700
Eileen Burke, (W) +1 203-221-4233, (C) +1 203-216-0718
Wendy Christian, (W) +1 203-221-3767, (C) +1 203-241-9722
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