Helping Make the Final Push for Disaster Relief Efforts

by Jason Unger, Founder

Insights / Website Design / Helping Make the Final Push for Disaster Relief Efforts

One of our clients, the Orthodox Union’s Institute for Public Affairs (IPA), has been working diligently to help families and communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy, which destroyed homes, neighborhoods and houses of worship when it touched down in the Northeast in October.

They established a Hurricane Relief Fund, their programs (like local NCSY chapters) went door-to-door to check on community members, and they even helped facilitate a synagogue in Kansas donate a Torah to a synagogue hit by Sandy.

Recently, when federal disaster relief aid was being distributed, houses of worship – many of which were hit extremely hard by the hurricane – were left out of the picture. FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was providing rebuilding funds to many nonprofit organizations, but denied them to houses of worship because they law doesn’t clearly list them as eligible.

So the IPA pushed hard to get a bipartisan bill passed that would clearly state that houses of worship are eligible for disaster relief funds, clarifying current language.

With two days before a vote in the House of Representatives, the IPA asked us to help design and develop content for a final push to get the law passed. They needed a flyer designed and email put together for same-day distribution, and we were able to create the materials and help get it out to their members.

The vote on HR592 – the Federal Disaster Assistance Nonprofit Fairness Act of 2013 – took place in House of Representatives on Wednesday, February 13, and passed by a vote of 354-72.

We’re glad to have been able to help make the final push for disaster relief efforts. Check out the finished product below.