Disaster Relief for Camp Hill image

Disaster Relief for Camp Hill

ACROSS Start Up Funds

$570 raised

$50,000 goal

We are no longer accepting donations on this campaign, but there are other ways for you to support us today!
Share:

On March 26th Camp Hill Alabama received one of the worst hailstorms in Alabama history. It destroyed over 400 roofs and totaled 80 percent of the cars in town. Camp Hill is a town with no grocery store or pharmacy and the people have to travel to the neighboring town of Dadeville for anything they need. 90 percent of the residents are African- American and half of the town lives below the poverty line. In the weeks since the recovery has been slow as there has been no disaster declaration from FEMA, even with the request being put submitted to the state after the initial disaster assessment. It was an assessment that showed the hail had come through the roofs of homes all the way through the ceilings in many cases. The disaster has displaced many people with others forced to live in deplorable conditions as they seek to stop the leaks in their homes. A good deal of people are underinsured or uninsured. At this time the tarps are mitigating the damage but there has to be a bigger effort funded to get these roofs repaired.


Sadly, on April 15th the town suffered even more tragedy with the shooting in Dadeville that led to the deaths and injuries of many children within the town, including families affected by the disaster- to the point of being displaced from their homes. These young people were some of the best you could ever hope for, and the losses in the town are immeasurable at this point. There may not be another town in the US who has both been dealt a devastating climate disaster and then forced to deal with the fallout of a mass shooting that, at the time of this writing, has left 4 dead and 36 injured.

The Alabama Center for Rural Organizing and Systemic Solutions (Across) is headquartered in Camp Hill and will be with the residents and working in support of them throughout this recovery. Up until this point the organization has managed to help bring in enough food to keep the local food pantry stocked throughout the first few weeks, but it is going to be a long road as the needs will continue to be immense. Right now, there are likely hundreds of roofs that need replaced and there are over one hundred cars that need auto glass installed to get the folks with liability insurance back on the road. Food scarcity will continue to be an issue. Even with a disaster declaration the town will need a tremendous level of support for a long time.

The Automotive Free Clinic is acting as fiscal agent for ACROSS and will be receiving 8% of donations for administration.