Dear Rotarians,
As I am sure you all know, many of the cites along the Gulf Coast of the United States have been devastated by category 4 Hurricane Harvey with winds of over 130 miles an hour and over 50 inches of rain. It’s the heaviest storm on record anywhere in the U.S. outside Hawaii and it is still raining.
This severe rainfall has caused historic flooding along the Texas coast, including in Houston. Deluged towns in the region are in desperate need of aid as thousands of residents were forced to flee their homes. Cities like Rockport, Texas have been completely destroyed. The Greater Houston area with a population of over 6.5 million people (the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the United States) has had over 3.7 million people leave the region in the evacuation effort. Others remained trapped inside their homes, as entire neighborhoods were submerged.
Hurricane Harvey is predicted to be the costliest natural disaster in the history of the U.S., with a damage cost exceeding Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina. AccuWeather predicts that the damage cost will hit $160 billion
Earlier this morning, Presidential Aide Don Mebus and Past RI Director Greg Podd hosted a strategy conference call with governors from Districts 5930, 5840, 5890, 5910 and 6200 in Texas and Louisiana to develop a cohesive response.
A Gulf Coast Disaster Relief Donor Advised Fund (DAF) has been established by Greg Podd and President-Elect Barry Rassin through The Rotary Foundation to collect relief contributions. Don and Greg are working with leaders from the affected districts to create a process for disbursing DAF funds to their respective district foundations or local 501c3 organizations to support local relief efforts.
If you would like to help please go to the following link: https://www.rotary.org/
If you would like to make a contribution by credit card please go to the following link: https://www.your-
The Name of the DAF (Donor Advised Fund) is The Gulf Coast Disaster Relief Donor Advised Fund. The Account Number of the DAF (Donor Advised Fund) is 608
ShelterBox, Rotary’s partner for disaster relief, is providing tents for use as ‘privacy tents’ to be pitched within the convention centers housing families that have been evacuated.
Please direct inquiring Rotarians to the web story on Rotary.org for the most up-to-date information or to contact RI by writing to relief@rotary.org.
Attached is an information sheet regarding this established fund. Please share this information with your fellow Rotarians and Rotary Clubs.
Thank you in advance for any assistance you can give
To open the Donor Advised Fund document, click or copy and paste this link into your browser:
https://clubrunner.blob.core.
This file can also be found on the Zones website home page, www.RotaryZones24-32.org in the Download File section.
H. Dean Rohrs
Rotary International Vice President 2017-18
19233 69 A Avenue, Surrey, BC. V4N 6K4
Ph: 604-836-1454
Dean@cbrplus.com