REGION – The Vermont Community Foundation announced Tuesday that it has created a fund to help the people and communities of the state recover from devastating flooding that constitutes one of the worst natural disasters Vermont has ever seen.
Donations to the Vermont Flood Response & Recovery Fund 2023 will help with immediate and longer-term efforts to assist Vermont people and communities. Flooding caused by torrential rains over the past five days has put downtowns under water, forced residents to evacuate from their homes, washed out roads and bridges, destroyed crops, and threatened dams.
Dan Smith, president and CEO of the Vermont Community Foundation, said the fund will help Vermont rebuild and pull together in a time of great need.
“One of the defining truths about Vermont is that Vermonters look out for one another,” Smith said. “We saw it during the pandemic; we saw it during Tropical Storm Irene. As we watch the updates come in from across the state today, we see it again. Emergency responders, public safety officers, federal and state agencies, businesses, and volunteers coming together to manage a major crisis as it unfolds.”
Giving to the Flood Response & Recovery Fund will help Vermont respond as nimbly as possible as the full scale of the flood’s impact emerges in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
“Our teams here at the VCF are in conversation with the Red Cross, FEMA, the state’s community action agencies, the Governor’s office, and our partners throughout the state to coordinate a philanthropic response,” Smith said. “We have activated our Vermont Flood Response & Recovery Fund to distribute support to communities that need it.”
Holly Morehouse, vice president for grants and community impact at the Vermont Community Foundation, said the fund will help people join together in Vermont’s recovery efforts.
“I am so proud and appreciative of the way that Vermonters step up to help one another, and the incredible power of collective giving is never more apparent than in challenging times like these. Gifts to the Vermont Flood Response & Recovery Fund will help to cover immediate support as Vermont moves through this crisis, as well as essential and far-reaching recovery efforts that will be needed to build back across our towns and villages, farms and families, watersheds, and homes.”
This is not the first time the Vermont Community Foundation has coordinated the philanthropic response to a crisis. The Foundation’s Vermont Covid fund put nearly $11 million to work in Vermont communities, and the foundation also raised substantial funds to rebuild communities after Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.
Visit www.vermontcf.org/vtfloodresponse to give or learn more about the fund.