After Helene, relief network takes the chaos out of giving

The Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Asheville, North Carolina, is providing rent assistance, including same-day eviction protection, for people impacted by Hurricane Helene.

The Cabins 4 Christ initiative is providing shed-like shelters for people who lost their homes in the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. The structures include a composting toilet, mattresses, plenty of insulation, and supplies like water and a cooking stove.

A resident of Western North Carolina started a google form and spreadsheet to connect community members with volunteers offering the help they need to recover after Hurricane Helene.

A church is helping residents of Asheville, North Carolina, pay their overdue rent and utility bills after Hurricane Helene. It's using discretionary funds and working with landlords to help those who apply.

The nonprofit Footprint Project is helping communities in North Carolina restore electricity after Hurricane Helene by delivering and installing solar equipment donated by companies or purchased with donated funds.

In a country of limited resources — and perhaps for that very reason — preparing for natural disasters is top of the agenda in Bangladesh. Various grassroots, collaborative programs have been put in place over the years to help address many facets of the calamities caused by cyclones, from improved emergency shelters to long-term support for those who lose their livelihoods in the storms.

Restring Appalachia matches people who lost their instruments to Hurricane Helene with donors offering up instruments of similar quality. So far, roughly 175 people have signed up to donate about 400 instruments, with about 20 delivered to Asheville so far, though the need still outpaces the supply.

Neighbors around the country are forming grassroots community groups to prepare for, and respond to, extreme weather and disasters. These groups organize aid and supplies, participate in reconstruction, and help others find shelter amidst the storms.

After 15 years of fortifying the electric grid with swaps like concrete and steel electric poles and underground power lines, Florida utility companies were able to restore power to residents after Hurricane Ian faster than any previous storm.

The city of Houston is changing its approach to measuring the full scope of damage from Hurricane Harvey so it can get help where it is most needed and improve future flood mitigation. Using data from numerous sources, Civis Analytics found unmet housing needs were far greater than initially recorded and low-income areas were hit disproportionately harder, even though recovery funding often goes to areas with higher housing values. Now city officials are working to implement solutions based on the data in order to allocate limited funds where they will be most effective.