Our Role In Recovery
For nearly 40 years, the ETF has stepped up to support our region’s needs and recovery from other crises. On September 27, 2024, Hurricane Helene brought severe storms across East Tennessee significantly affecting the ETF’s service area. The Foundation immediately activated the Neighbor to Neighbor Disaster Relief Fund to support community needs and recovery efforts throughout East Tennessee. We continue collaborating with a variety of partners, including donors, frontline nonprofits, and other funders, to multiply and mobilize resources to help our neighbors.
The ETF has 18 community fund advisory groups made up of 150 local leaders throughout the region, including several in the impacted communities. We are strategically partnering with those local representatives, as well as many others in our network, to ensure we are listening, learning, and maximizing impacts where they are most needed.
Hurricane Helene marked the fourth time in 12 years that the ETF leveraged our Neighbor to Neighbor Disaster Relief Fund to support community needs resulting from a disaster. Through these experiences we have learned, both from our community and from disaster philanthropy and recovery experts, the importance of locally led solutions.
The pinnacle of the ETF’s community investments has been the launching of six formal Long-Term Recovery Groups (LTRGs) – now established in East Tennessee’s counties which were most significantly affected across the disaster-declared region.
Today, communities in Carter, Cocke, Greene, Johnson, Unicoi, and Washington counties are benefiting from our collective contributions by having their own LTRGs. These groups, considered a best practice by disaster experts, reflect local cultures in their makeup and operations to effectively coordinate and channel resources to individuals and communities.
Building a strong, locally led structure is a key part of our recovery strategy. Northeast Tennessee’s Regional Director of Long-Term Recovery, a position we funded through United Way of East Tennessee Highlands, is strengthening local leadership alongside the First Tennessee Development District. Together, these partners are maximizing resources with LTRGs across the region to expedite recovery.
As our neighbors face a new reality, these LTRGs are addressing everything from case and construction management, communications and ongoing donations, emotional and spiritual care, and other unmet needs. We are honored to stand these LTRGs up and stand beside them to keep meeting community needs and build future preparedness.
