The Salvation Army USA National Fact Sheet -Oklahoma Tornadoes
May 23, 2013
The Salvation Army's Emergency Disaster Services (EDS) is providing food, beverage, and spiritual support to survivors and first responders following the severe tornado activity in Moore, OK and surrounding impacted areas on May 19th and 20th.
· The Salvation Army is on the ground in Moore, OK, with multiple disaster response units (canteens) and personnel coordinating with Local and State Emergency Management to serve first responders and those affected by the tornado.
· Since service began on Sunday evening, The Salvation Army has provided approximately:
o 4,684 meals
o 7,752 drinks
o 3,188 snacks
o Emotional and spiritual care to more than 600 persons, including first responders as well as those affected by the tornadoes
o 722 hours of employee and volunteer service
· In addition to feeding and emotional and spiritual care, The Salvation Army is prepared to provide:
o Clean-up kits containing brooms, mops, buckets and cleaning supplies
o Hygiene kits
o Drinking water
o Shower units
o First-aid supplies
· Canteens involved in the response from Oklahoma include:
o Central Oklahoma Area Command (Oklahoma City)
o Ardmore
o Enid
o Lawton
o McAlester
o Muskogee
o Shawnee
o Tulsa
· Disaster response teams from Pine Bluff, Jonesboro, and Hot Springs, Arkansas have provided crews and mobile feeding units to the Oklahoma City metropolitan area to assist in response.
· Fourteen Salvation Army pastors and staff from throughout Florida, including five emotional and spiritual care providers and nine members of Florida's Incident Command team, are traveling to Oklahoma to help those in need in Moore and the surrounding area.
· The Salvation Army is continuing to provide service to hard-hit areas from the storms, which include:
o In Pottawatomie County: The McAlester, OK and Shawnee, OK disaster response teams served multiple locations in the Shawnee area, including devastated neighborhoods and rural areas throughout the night and day.
o In Lincoln County: The Enid, OK canteen provided breakfast, lunch & dinner to the Carney, OK area throughout the early morning hours and all day Monday.
o In Cleveland County: The Central Oklahoma Area Command Disaster Service Unit responded to the Little Axe area with breakfast, lunch & dinner on Monday. The Salvation Army was responding, even as one of our Salvation Army family member's home was destroyed.
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."*
· Donations in the form of checks designated to Oklahoma Tornado Relief may also be mailed to:
The Salvation Army
PO Box 2356
Oklahoma City, OK 73102
· To date, The Salvation Army has raised $3.3 million through online, text-to-give, and 1-800-SAL-ARMY fundraising, and is grateful for the support of the American people.
· 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 Ron Busroe, National Community Relations & Development Secretary
· "The Salvation Army is grateful for the continued support of the American people as we work to serve all of those impacted by this tragedy."
Major Steve Morris, Arkansas-Oklahoma Divisional Commander
· "We know that this is a tragedy that the people of Moore will overcome. It will take time to not only clean and rebuild, but to also heal. We continue to ask everyone to pray for all those impacted by this event."
· "As the focus in Moore moves from search and rescue to clean up, The Salvation Army will be providing assistance - food, hydration and spiritual counseling - to everyone involved. We are working with local, state and federal emergency teams to ensure that everyone has someone they can turn to for help."
· "The devastation is far reaching in both human life, property and livestock loss. The Salvation Army is honored to serve and provide sustenance to first responders involved in search and rescue, coordination efforts and more. And, of course, all survivors will be provided spiritual and emotional care to help them through this tragic time."
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The Salvation Army Lied Renaissance Center
Omaha, Nebraska
The Salvation Army in Omaha, Nebraska has an established history of providing high quality comprehensive care to people needing assistance in the Omaha area. The Salvation Army operates a multi-service campus located at 3612 Cuming Street, providing a variety of services to individuals and families across all life stages and circumstances. This facility is unique in the nation in terms of the variety of diverse programming offered on-site: including child and youth care, material assistance, case management and community outreach, senior services and spiritual care if requested. The Lied Renaissance Center campus is a micro-community with more than 200 people living on the campus on any given day. Such an array of residential care and services provide unparalled access within a holistic, integrated, and caring community environment. Below are some of the faces that have travelled through one of our programs.
The Salvation Army is the largest social service agency in the metropolitan area. It encompasses more than 20 programs that provide low-income people with food, shelter, clothing, disaster relief and counseling. The Salvation Army has served the state of Nebraska since 1888 and the city of Omaha since 1897.
About The Salvation Army:
The Salvation Army, an evangelical part of the universal Christian church established in 1865, has been supporting those in need in His name without discrimination for more than 130 years in the United States. Nearly 30 million Americans receive assistance from The Salvation Army each year through the broadest array of social services that range from providing food for the hungry, relief for disaster victims, assistance for the disabled, outreach to the elderly and ill, clothing and shelter to the homeless and opportunities for underprivileged children. 82 cents of every dollar spent is used to support those services in 5,000 communities nationwide. For more information, go to www.salvationarmyusa.org.