In the wake of the devastating Hurricane Helene, Plenty volunteers are providing critical support to underserved communities in Western North Carolina. Volunteers are delivering grey water to be used for essential activities such as sanitation, flushing toilets, and other non-drinking purposes.
“Access to water is a fundamental human right, and in times of crisis, it becomes even more crucial,” said Dan Bright, a Plenty disaster relief volunteer. “Our team is dedicated to ensuring that no one is left without the resources they need to maintain basic hygiene and dignity.”
The grey water being distributed is sourced from local treatment plants, rainwater harvesting systems, and local wells ensuring that it meets safety standards for its intended uses.
Six distributions of food staples and hygiene supplies were provided to over 2400 residents of communities in Solola and Chimaltenango departments through two partnering groups: ADIBE and Tecnologia Para La Salud. 1400 facemasks were also distributed.
Plenty provided $2000 in financial assistance for UPAVIM women’s association. Many of their members are single mothers and had no other source of support than through their craft sales at UPAVIM, which was closed during the lengthy lock down.
Plenty continued to support the three women team that produce and distribute food to children through Karen’s Soy Nutrition Program (KSNP) while the program was on hold.
Food distributions of beans and rice were provided through Plenty Belize, as well as books to schools for distribution to families during the lock down, provided by Books To Kids program.
Funding was provided to the NGO Plenitud PR to help equip their new community kitchen, enabling them to feed greater numbers of local elders during Covid.
Funding and sewing supplies were provided to the B.E.A.R. group at Pine Ridge Reservation to produce facemasks for distribution.
Several small free food pantries were established in two local towns near Plenty headquarters and replenished weekly.
Hurricanes ETA and IOTA, Central America (Nov. 2020):
$500 for emergency food to 30 Miskito families in the city of Bilwi, Puerto Cabezas, distributed by the Parroquia de San Pedro Apostal.
Guatemala: $1000 to American Friends Service Committee to distribute food, warm clothing, and hygiene supplies to shelters in the Department of Alta Verapaz in northeast Guatemala, one of the most affected areas.
Initial efforts in 2017 included distributing water purification kits and small solar lights in some of the hardest hit areas of the central mountains by two volunteers of AidElevated, a group fiscally sponsored by Plenty. Six portable solar powered high-volume community water filtering units were also sent to Puerto Rico in 2018.
Plenty fiscally sponsored two relief and rebuilding projects in Nepal, directed and carried out by skilled and dedicated volunteer staff. One is still active. (link to Nepal program)
This Super Typhoon struck in November 2013 with brutal force. International relief efforts were massive. Plenty was asked to help the village of Alta Vista on the island of Leyte, home to about 1,500 people. Every house in the area lost their roof and sustained other damage. Alta Vista Elementary School, with 280 k-6th grade students, lost its roof, desks, books and supplies. Plenty provided funds to repair the school and replace books and student supplies.
Louisiana’s Gulf Coast communities are vulnerable to frequent and more intense storms and hurricanes and have no protective levee system. With vanishing land due to sea level rise, and a shrinking number of residents, some have called these the first U.S. climate refugees.
The BP oil disaster in the spring of 2010 added a devastating blow to the Gulf’s environment and the traditional fishing and shrimping livelihoods of its coastal people.
In Terrebonne Parish, working with Tribal leaders, Plenty provided emergency distributions of food and clothing to some of the most impacted Biloxi-Chitimacha families.
From 2008 – 2020, thanks to the efforts of Plenty volunteer Elaine Stampalia and friends, the annual “Bayou Christmas” provided toys, books, groceries and other aid to over 100 families.
Replacement beds and mattresses were provided for 16 families after Hurricane Isaac in August 2012, funded by the Philip R. Jonsson Foundation.
Plenty assisted the Pointe-au-Chene Biloxi-Chitimacha tribe to complete a raised community center that also serves as a tribal office and hurricane shelter, and houses a library and computer lab. The center was completed in 2014.
Aiding the people of the Gulf since Katrina has enabled us to witness the longer-term impacts of climate change to the health and stability of these highly vulnerable coastal communities.
When Haiti’s overcrowded capital collapsed into a deadly avalanche of rubble in the massive quake, Haiti was already the most impoverished country in the western hemisphere with 70% unemployment and an infant mortality rate of 60 per thousand births, ten times greater than the US rate.
Plenty assistance to Haiti from 2010-13 largely focused on health and medical needs:
Medicines and supplies for the immediate relief effort, and ongoing to the ADHD clinic in La Vallee; water purification tablets to Le Mabouya, a Haitian environmental NGO in Cayes-Jacmel, (southeast Haiti); and to a clinic in Cape Haitian (central plateau), run by the Haitian NGO Sante Total – $7,000
Ten heavy-duty wheelchairs designed for rural use by Whirlwind Wheelchairs – $2200
Support for clinical volunteers, and teaching workshops for Haitian midwives on Home Based Life Saving Skills – simple interventions that save mother and infant lives – $1,800
Together, these Gulf Coast hurricanes constituted the most devastating natural disaster to hit the U.S. in its history.
Times of great tragedy often generate great compassion, and this disaster was no exception. The world witnessed an unprecedented outpouring of caring and mobilization in response. We are very grateful for the many generous people who channeled their time, talents and funds through Plenty to help.
Multiple trips with volunteers and supplies were organized from our home base in Tennessee to assist hurricane victims in Louisiana and Mississippi in building repair, supply distribution, medical care, mold abatement, needs assessment, and more.
Other supply and volunteer runs were mobilized from Tennessee, Texas, and Florida. Volunteers came from as far as New York, California, and Oregon.
Food, water, medical supplies, blankets, heaters, clothing, batteries, cleaning and other supplies were purchased and distributed thanks to donations raised from individuals and community fundraisers.
Katrina relief work also led to the creation of Plenty’s ongoing program, Books To Kids.
Torrential rains caused deadly mudslides around Lake Atitlan in the department of Solola, which killed at least 600 people and displaced thousands in the traditional Mayan communities of this area. Plenty provided $8,700 for emergency and longer term food relief, which was coordinated through Plenty’s Central American Food Security Initiative partner Asociacion De Desarollo Integral Belen (ADIBE) and their soy foods processing facility, which is located near the affected area.
On December 26, 2004, a devastating tsunami struck 1,356 miles of Indian coastline, destroying or seriously damaging 883 villages and affecting 1.2 million people. Over 10,000 people died in mainland India. We were asked by a trusted colleague working in India to support a project to assist pregnant women and children. $2,870 was utilized for playgrounds for children in two villages (Chinoor and Velangiriyan Pettai), as a way to help them in their trauma recovery. The remaining $5,577 supported a project to provide pre- and post-natal care, nutritional food and vitamin supplements, vaccinations, psychological counseling, and special needs assistance to 276 pregnant women and 391 nursing mothers living in 25 villages that were devastated by the tsunami.
This category 5 hurricane swept through southern Belize in October 2001, destroying homes, crops, and rainforest. Plenty Belize staff and volunteers set up outdoor emergency kitchens in 5 villages, where residents and the Plenty crew produced and distributed over 1000 lbs. of high protein dry cereal and drink mixes and coordinated other aid delivery in the area. Funds raised also purchased tools and seeds to enable 275 farming families to begin replanting. We assisted our long term friends the Toledo Cacao Growers Association to set up 4 village tree nurseries with drip irrigation by solar water pumps. Approximately $17,000 was raised for these efforts from individuals and small grants.
With $5,726 from individuals and two small grants volunteers built 2 houses, repaired three others, and installed two neighborhood water wells. Funds also supported the local woman’s group MUPROVI (Women Producing for Life) in the town of San Juan de Limay by donating food and supplies for their temporary Olla Comunal. This community kitchen served approximately 80 kids one meal a day, 5 or 6 days a week for several months. Two Plenty representatives drove a load of medical supplies and house wares from Texas to Nicaragua, and donated their four wheel drive Toyota truck to help move supplies to families who lost homes and more in the hurricane. They also worked with MUPROVI to replant trees and re-establish vegetable gardens in the year following Mitch.
Two years after Plenty’s founding, we began our international work by responding to a massive earthquake that struck the Guatemalan highlands, killing over 23,000 people. Early relief efforts involved volunteer carpenter crews from the Farm Community who began rebuilding the town of San Andreas Itzapa and outlying rural communities. Deep underlying conditions of poverty and social inequality were revealed through this work. Seeing an opportunity to provide long term assistance, the Farm Community, through Plenty sent more volunteers with health care, farming, communication and related skills. Initial relief efforts evolved into a multi-year program involving hundreds of volunteers, partly funded by the Canadian International Development Agency. Overall 1200 homes, 12 schools and several clinics were rebuilt, a radio station was established, agriculture and nutrition projects, health care training, and a free clinic provided services, and orphaned and malnourished children were cared for by Plenty volunteers. (link to Guatemala program)
In Plenty’s earliest years, we helped our neighbors in times of need, responding to local disasters by collecting and transporting truckloads of food, blankets, and clothing from Plenty headquarters at the Farm Community in middle Tennessee to tornado and flood victims in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee.
Plenty is a not-for-profit organization that was created to help protect and share the world’s abundance and knowledge for the benefit of all.
