Heres an outline of what The Salvation Army is doing concerning Irene.

Updates

The Salvation Army is already serving at shelter locations across the Carolinas while simultaneously staging supplies and equipment to provide immediate relief to those impacted by Hurricane Irene. 

• The Salvation Army is preparing staging locations in Greenville, NC; Charlotte, NC; and Waymart, PA to ready assets which will be deployed after the storm passes.
•  These canteens will provide food, drinks, emotional and spiritual care to survivors and first responders.
• The northeastern United States has 100 canteens and one mobile feeding kitchen which can be deployed while the southern region has 270 canteens and four mobile feeding kitchens; currently, approximately 90 of these canteens have been formally mobilized or placed on standby.
• Each mobile food kitchen can make 20,000 meals per day and a mobile canteen can make 1,500 meals per day. The Salvation Army can produce several hundred thousand meals per day when operating at full capacity.

Local officials from the Carolinas to New England are already calling on the Army for assistance.

• Logistical support will be provided in key areas. For example, The Salvation Army will assist the state of New Jersey with contra flow on the Garden State Parkway, while also providing sanitary trailers and cleaning kits through the eastern United States. 
• The Salvation Army has three satellite communications trucks deployed throughout the region to provide communications service in the event of an outage of normal channels. 
• The Salvation Army encourages all residents in the path of Hurricane Irene to have a disaster plan in place and heed the advice of local officials regarding evacuations.

The Salvation Army units in the Caribbean and Bahamas are already responding to impacts from this devastating storm.

• Several hundred thousand people in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic are currently without electricity due to Hurricane Irene and units are responding with support primarily for the sick, homeless and disabled.
• In the Bahamas, an emergency operations center has been established in Kingston and The Salvation Army has begun initial distribution of food and water supplies throughout the region.
• Representatives of The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Service Team have been asked to partner with the Bahamas National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to survey and assess the damage on the islands of Acklins and Mayaguana.

Monetary donations are the most critical need as supplies and personnel are mobilized.

• Donors are encouraged to give online at www.SalvationArmyUSA.org or by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY (1-800-725-2769).
• You can also text the word “STORM” to 80888 to make a $10 donation through your mobile phone; to confirm your gift, respond with the word “Yes.”*
• Checks should be sent to Disaster Gift Processing Center, PO Box 1959, Atlanta, GA 30301 and designated “2011 Hurricane Season.”
• Those interested in volunteering should register at www.disaster.salvationarmyusa.org; Please note that disaster service training is a prerequisite for volunteering in a disaster zone and not all registered volunteers will be called upon to serve.
• Due to the high expense and time demands associated with delivering your gently-used household goods and clothing (gifts-in-kind), The Salvation Army cannot guarantee that any individual gifts-in-kind donated now will be sent to the disaster area. In times of disaster, our stores fill these needs from existing, pre-sorted stock. By continuing to donate gently-used household goods to your local Salvation Army store, you not only help your community, you help us prepare for future disaster relief needs. To find your nearest drop-off location, please go to www.satruck.org.

Your donations make a real difference.

·         A $10 donation feeds a disaster survivor for one day.

·         A $30 donation provides one food box, containing staple foods for a family of four, or one household cleanup kit, containing brooms, mops, buckets and other cleaning supplies

·         A $100 donation can serve snacks and drinks for 125 survivors and emergency personnel at the scene of a disaster

·         A $250 donation can provide one hot meal to 100 people or keep a hydration station operational for 24 hours

·         A $500 donation keeps a Salvation Army canteen (mobile feeding unit) fully operational for one day

Salvation Army Statements

Major George Hood, National Community Relations &Development Secretary

• “We are taking this hurricane extremely seriously and are working closely with partner agencies to ensure we will can provide a strong response to any impacts of the storm.”
• Our personnel will be working overnight and throughout the weekend to ensure we can meet the needs.

Major David Singletary, EDS Director, Maryland and West Virginia Division.

·         “With the impending landfall of this storm in Maryland, The Salvation Army is readying all our equipment and assembling supplies to provide immediate help to those most affected by the storm.”

Major Willis Howell, Divisional Commander, Carolinas Division

·          “As coastal Carolina residents and visitors are evacuating, The Salvation Army is moving closer to meet them in safe inland areas.  Staging equipment and personnel is a delicate balance between being close enough to quickly respond and avoiding areas of potential harm.”