IOCC Hurricane Appeal

Baltimore, MD (September 16, 2008) — As rescuers conducted the largest search and recovery operation in Texas history, officials in 11 states were assessing the cumulative damage of the 2008 hurricane season after two tropical storms and two hurricanes made landfall in the U.S. in just four weeks.

International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), which mobilized its Emergency Network for this year’s severe weather including the Iowa floods and Hurricane Gustav, has been in contact with Orthodox hierarchs in the affected areas and deployed a team of IOCC staff and Orthodox clergy known as the “Frontline.” They are now in Texas evaluating the aftermath of Hurricane Ike and coordinating a relief plan with IOCC partners on the ground.

IOCC is issuing an emergency appeal for its continuing response with cash funds going towards immediate clean-up and recovery efforts. Orthodox faithful, including Sunday Schools, youth groups and others, are also urged to continue providing emergency clean-up buckets and health kits for shipment to the Gulf Coast (for information on assembling the kits go to www.iocc.org/emergencykits.aspx). IOCC distributed 1,000 such kits in New Orleans and Baton Rouge immediately following Hurricane Gustav.

Cash donations can be made by calling IOCC’s donation hotline toll-free at 1-877-803-4622; by making a gift on-line at www.iocc.org; or by mailing a check or money order payable to “IOCC” and writing “US Emergency Response” in the memo line to IOCC, P.O. Box 17398, Baltimore, Md. 21297-0429.

IOCC, founded in 1992 as the official humanitarian aid agency of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA), has implemented over $275 million in relief and development programs in 33 countries around the world.

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