Hurricane Relief Resource Center

Hurricane Maria

Executive Order No. 233

The Governor signed Executive Order No. 233 to designate municipal and county law enforcement and emergency responders as State Emergency Forces, which will be under the control and direction of the State Director of Emergency Management. These local officials will compliment forces from the New Jersey National Guard, State Police and the State Office of Emergency Management in the safe deployment of critical emergency response resources. View Executive Order No. 233 (PDF) or the Press Release: September 29, 2017.

Just a week after Hurricane Irma hit, Hurricane Maria swept through Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, furthering damage extensively. Garden State municipalities are contributing to the efforts.

Articles & Relief Links

NJLM Issue Alert on Gov. Christie’s issuance of Executive Order 233 mobilizing NJ state, municipal, county, and private resources to provide aid to Puerto Rico.
“N.J. leaders seek to raise $100K to help crisis in Puerto Rico,” article by Karen Yi for NJ Advance Media for Nj.com
“If anyone can hear us…help.” Puerto Rico’s mayors describe widespread devastation from Hurricane Maria, by Samantha Schmidt and Daniel Cassady at 9/23/17
“NJ mayor helping in disaster areas of Mexico, Puerto Rico,” by Kristen Keller for The Jersey Journal at 9/25/17
“Perth Amboy seeks joint effort to rebuild Puerto Rico,” by Suzanne Russell for myCentralJersey.com 9/21/17
“New Jersey Mayors Offer Advice on Current Hurricane Relief,” by Megan Pinna for wfuv.org, 9/21/17

Links to Relief Organizations

New Jersey for Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief

Hurricane Irma

How to help the Recovery Advice from FEMA

After barreling through the Caribbean, USVI, and Puerto Rico, Hurricane Irma cut a swath of destruction from Key West through the state of Florida. We will continue to update this page, but here's insights from FEMA on how to help the recovery process.

FEMA's Post-Irma Recovery

To help people affected by the storm, visit National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster's Twitter page for a listed of trusted organizations. To help, remember the following tips.

Hurricane Harvey

How to Help Disaster Survivors in Texas - Advice From FEMA

The most effective way to support disaster survivors in their recovery is to donate money and time to trusted, reputable, voluntary or charitable organizations.

Cash Donations

Cash donations offer voluntary agencies and faith-based organizations the most flexibility to address urgently developing needs. With cash in hand, these organizations can obtain needed resources nearer to the disaster location. This inflow of cash also pumps money back into the local economy and helps local businesses recover faster.

Unsolicited Goods

Please do not donate unsolicited goods such as used clothing, miscellaneous household items, medicine, or perishable foodstuffs at this time. When used personal items are donated, the helping agencies must redirect their staff away from providing direct services to survivors in order to sort, package, transport, warehouse, and distribute items that may not meet the needs of disaster survivors.

Trusted Organizations

Donate through a trusted organization. At the national level, many voluntary, faith and community-based organizations are active in disasters, and are trusted ways to donate to disaster survivors. Individuals, corporations, and volunteers, can learn more about how to help on the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) website.

In addition to the national members, The Texas Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (Texas VOAD) has a list of vetted disaster relief organizations providing services to survivors. Texas VOAD represents more than three dozen faith-based, community, nonprofit and non-governmental organizations.