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When Hurricane Helene devastated the southern Appalachian region of the United States in September 2024*, Americares deployed a response team immediately to coordinate deliveries of medicine, supplies, water and mental health support.
Even before the storm, many local health organizations were benefiting from long-term partnerships with Americares. In South Carolina, Greenville Free Clinic’s Executive Director, Suzie Foley had Americares Climate Resilience for Frontline Clinics Toolkit in hand when her clinic lost power in the storm. “Boy, did we see that [the toolkit] had paid off when we were able to quickly and immediately put into place a plan that helped salvage a quarter-million-dollars-worth of insulin and vaccines,” Foley says. She moved the medicine to a nearby hospital powered by emergency generators.
One-hundred-fifty miles away, Kathy Christian, executive director at the Church Hill Medical Mission in Church Hill, Tennessee, was receiving texts about urgent needs in her community, when she opened an email from Americares with list of relief items on offer. “Our clinic has been partnering with Americares for years to provide free medication and supplies to our uninsured patients,” says Christian. “What we didn’t realize was the extent of what Americares could provide in a disaster. Americares support is not just life-changing. It is lifesaving!”
*during our fiscal year 2025
“Americares support is not just life-changing. It is lifesaving!”
Kathy Christian, executive director, Church Hill Medical Mission, Church Hill, Tenn.