Local non-profit helps provide fuel to hurricane victims
Hundreds are still stranded without power after Hurricane Florence. One non-profit, Fuel Relief Fund, is taking action. Volunteers from Riverside traveled to the East Coast to help deliver fuel to those in need.
Volunteers were in Bolton, North Carolina on Tuesday. “People were telling us that they were in line for over two hours and we even had people pushing their cars into this area,” said Ted Honcharik, the chairman and founder of Fuel Relief Fund.
He founded the organization over ten years ago after seeing the damage of Hurricane Katrina. Since then, the group has helped hurricane victims in Haiti, Nepal, Japan, Turkey and Puerto Rico, to name a few. “I think we’ve fueled up every international organization from the Red Cross to United Nations to World Food Program to Doctors Without Borders,” said Honcharik.
Joseph Lee, one of the group’s volunteers and a firefighter from Boston, has provided aid across nine natural disasters worldwide. “I’ve never seen the type of flooding that I’ve seen here,” said Lee. “So they need fans and air conditioners in order to dry the house out because within 2-3 days you get black mold,” he said. And black mold can cause deadly health problems.
In addition, people need generators to keep food and essential medications like insulin refrigerated. Some need power for breathing machines and other medical devices.
Michele Adams, a single mom from the Florida Keyes, recounted how Fuel Relief Fund helped her during hurricane Irma: “Conditions were very difficult to live in, and so we needed gas for generators…a lot of people really wanted to get out of here after the storm.”
“If anybody out there has the means to give back and support this cause it is one of the absolute best causes to give to. They’re legit they come in immediately following the storm…fuel is a critical resource it’s up there with food and water. So if you have even a little bit to give to this organization please consider doing so,” said Adams.
In addition to helping Hurricane Florence victims, Fuel Relief Fund is also on standby to help those affected by the typhoon in the Philippines. They rely solely on donations from the community. If you’d like to make a tax-deductible donation, click here.
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