Hundreds of families were displaced in the wake of Hurricane Laura, which made landfall across the south on August 27, hitting Texas and Louisiana the hardest. And like severe storms that have pounded the region so many times before, Laura created a dire need for food, shelter, electricity and other basic needs as some residents already struggled with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Considering the impact of this natural disaster on colleagues, neighbors and communities in the region, which is home to our gas storage and pipeline business, DTE mobilized to help. The DTE Foundation awarded $30,000 to the Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana’s Hurricane Relief and Recovery Fund, which aims to raise money to help those in Southwest Louisiana return to the lives they’d known before disaster strikes.
“Seeing families go through so much devastation, especially during a pandemic, has been tragic,” said David Slater, president & COO, Gas Storage & Pipelines at DTE Energy. “It is heartwarming to see how many companies and individuals are stepping up to lend a helping hand, knowing how much tragedy the country has already faced this year. We’re grateful to be in a position to deliver much-needed aid to those who’ve experience so much loss in this catastrophic hurricane.”
Initially, disaster grants distributed from the Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana will pay for food, shelter, medicine and all the other necessities that help stabilize those in most immediate need. They will then shift to making long-term recovery and making people and places more resilient for the next time disaster strikes.
“We are grateful to the DTE Foundation for the gift, which will help the people of Southwest Louisiana start the long process of recovering from Hurricane Laura,” said Sara Judson, CEO of the Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana. “We’ll start making grants this week, with the first distributions to nonprofits that are feeding people and providing other necessities, such as medicines and shelter. We’ll recover, I’m sure, thanks in part to donations form DTE and so many others who are being kind when it’s needed most.”
Interested in contributing to the Hurricane Relief and Recovery Fund? Donate now!
The DTE Foundation grants come from the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) that the DTE Foundation established with the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan to support 501(c)(3) public charities in providing relief to people and families who are the victims of a natural disaster, emergency, act of terrorism, or war. For more than 10 years, the DRF has provided immediate assistance of food, clothing and shelter to the worst-affected victims; helped bring essential organizations and infrastructure back on-line and assisted in the rebuilding of communities.