Search and Sign Up

Search this site

Search for Assistance (county or city)

Sign up for our e-newsletter

Sign up for our advocacy e-alert

Join us online

Take Action Center

• Make a Donation
• Volunteer My Time
• Conduct A Food Drive
• Learn About Hunger In America
• Speaker Request Form
• Emergency Food Assistance

January 8, 2009

COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS ANNOUNCES $5 MILLION COMMITMENT TOWARD MASS CARE AND DISASTER RELIEF PLAN
 

(from l to r) Jan Pruitt, NTFB CEO; Cheryl Sutterfield-Jones, Dallas American Red Cross CEO; Major C. Mark Brown, The Salvation Army DFW Commander; Julie Thomas, Volunteer Center of North Texas CEO

Dallas Mayor, Tom Leppert

 

Grant to Fund Unique Collaboration by Four Major Social Service Organizations To Improve Disaster Preparedness in North Texas

DALLAS – January 8, 2009 – Communities Foundation of Texas has announced it has established a fund and committed $5 million as a challenge grant over four years to support development and implementation of a Mass Care Response and Disaster Relief Plan for North Texas.

The funding from theW.W. Caruth, Jr. Foundation at CFT will support a first-in-the-nation collaboration by the American Red Cross Dallas Area Chapter; the North Texas Food Bank; The Salvation Army, DFWMetroplex Area Command; and the Volunteer Center of North Texas. As the leading mass care responders in the DFW Metroplex, the four agencies have joined forces as a Mass Care Task Force, which has a goal of increasing emergency preparedness from their current ability to shelter and feed 7,800 to being able to accommodate 40,000 individuals.

After Dallas sheltered evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, the four nonprofit organizations formed the task force to strengthen their ability to take action in partnership when called upon to respond to a disaster in North Texas or to serve evacuees from a neighboring community. Disasters could include tornadoes, hurricanes, extreme temperatures, a major power failure, earthquake, drought, terrorist attack, or biological, chemical or nuclear attack.

“Dallas gained a lot of experience sheltering evacuees from Katrina, Ike and Gustav, but we had to consider how to prepare if a major disaster happened locally,” said Cheryl Sutterfield-Jones, chief executive officer of the Dallas Chapter of the American Red Cross. “The goal of the Mass Care Task Force is to take the lessons we’ve learned and build upon them to enable us to respond to a disaster on a much larger scale. If we wait until a large disaster strikes, it will be too late.”

The task force worked with the City of Dallas to assess risk factors for a number of potential threats. Statistically, for example, an F5 tornado (5 on a scale of 0-5) could affect 250,000 people at various levels, with as many as 40,000 requiring shelter through mass care.

The four organizations have been working together for more than a year to coordinate efforts, assign responsibilities and prepare for the next major disaster. Each organization’s primary responsibilities are: American Red Cross manages the shelters, the North Texas Food Bank provides food and drink, The Salvation Army prepares and serves meals, and the Volunteer Center of North Texas recruits and assigns the volunteers needed to assist in the relief effort. The alliance will enable the needs of victims to be met in the most efficient way by coordinatingservices, streamlining communications and avoiding unnec essary duplication of effort.

Officials at the Red Cross, North Texas Food Bank, Salvation Army and Volunteer Center said Hurricane Katrina revealed more than just systemic weaknesses in the current national preparedness system. The storm also demonstrated the need for greater integration of preparedness efforts with state and local governments and the private and nonprofit sectors as well. A primary issue was the management of the outpouring of volunteers and contributions of in-kind goods and services that occurred immediately after landfall.

“When Dallas sheltered evacuees from Katrina in 2005, we had a lot of duplication among agencies. But with Ike in 2008, we knew exactly what resources were needed and the right agencies to provide them as a result of our Mass Care Task Force planning,” said Jan Pruitt, president and chief executive officer of the North Texas Food Bank. “The organizations in the Mass Care Task Force want to make sure we’re prepared to meet the needs of the North Texas community should a much larger disaster occur.”

An estimated 15,000 volunteers could be needed for a major disaster, said Julie Thomas, chief executive officer, Volunteer Center of North Texas, which serves as a clearinghouse for hundreds of area nonprofit agencies. “Our role would be to assess the needs during a mass disaster, recruit appropriate volunteers, then send them where needed.”

“Today’s informed donors expect collaboration, and they recognize the synergies that can be achieved when organizations combine strengths to make the greatest impact in a community,” said Major C. Mark Brown, DFWMetroplex Commander for The Salvation Army. “And nobody is more aware than the leadership of these four organizations that no one organization can meet the total need in a community, even under the best of circumstances. This is especially true during a time of disaster when immediate response and streamlined processes are vital."

The $5 million Caruth Foundation grant will serve as a lead challenge grant, to be matched dollar-for-dollar, to support a $26.7 million project to create and implement a Mass Care Response and Disaster Relief Plan for North Texas, serving Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Ellis and Denton counties. The project would be carried out over five years in four mass care service areas: shelter, feeding, volunteers and communications. Expenses include capital items as well as management expenses associated with operating the effort. All management and capital expenses included in the project budget represent costs over and above current operations for each partner. Nonetheless, much of the equipment and supplies to be purchased can be used by the agencies on an ongoing basis or rotated through their inventories to stay fresh.

“Communities Foundation of Texas is extremely proud to step in at the beginning to assist the Mass Care Task Force,” said Brent E. Christopher, president and chief executive officer, CFT. “Public safety was a major concern ofW.W. Caruth Jr. when he established the Caruth Foundation at CFT. Four critical agencies are coming together to meet large-scale human needs in an efficient and effective way. For this significant effort, it is important to have stakeholders from throughout the entire community. We hope the grant from the Caruth Foundation will attract the support of other foundations and individuals throughout North Texas.”

Plans for a fundraising campaign have not yet been announced. Despite the downturn in the economy, however, planning will move forward. “Each organization in the task force has generous donors – individuals, corporations and foundations,” said Ms. Sutterfield-Jones. “Our experience responding to hurricanes over the past few years has caused many citizens to think about disaster preparedness.With Communities Foundation of Texas and the Caruth Foundation kicking off this effort, we believe others will see the vital need and respond.” Communities Foundation of Texas, a public charity founded in 1953, works closely with donors, nonprofits and other funding organizations. CFT improves lives by receiving charitable gifts, managing assets responsibly and making effective grants. As the largest community foundation in Texas and one of the largest in the country, CFT professionally manages more than 800 component funds, and it has distributed more than $950 million in charitable grants since its inception.