Families Nationwide "Link" Together to Help Those Devastated by the Tornado in Missouri

May 26, 2011 - PRLog -- Family-to-Family, a nonprofit hunger relief organization that connects families with “more” to families with profoundly less throughout the U.S, has just launched a program to help displaced families from the Missouri tornado get back on their feet.  Families that lost their homes in the tornado can sign up at the shelter or social service organization helping
them in Missouri, and Family-to-Family will match each one with a specific “sponsor” family who will send them bedding, towels, clothing and other desperately needed items.

Family-to-Family will work in conjunction with The Salvation Army and organizations in Missouri. The one-on-one family match-up program is similar to the one launched by the organization in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina. Two thousand donors were then linked by
Family-to-Family with two thousand hurricane victim families in New Orleans. The tornado that ripped through Joplin, Missouri has been called the single deadliest twister to ever hit American soil. With the death toll now surpassing 116, uncountable businesses, schools, hospitals and homes have been wiped out in Missouri and in states ranging from Oklahoma to Arkansas.

Family-to-Family is asking sponsor families to first send their tornado victim family a soft suitcase or laundry bag to keep their belongings in at the shelter, along with a letter of introduction and a questionnaire asking what they need the most.  Displaced Missouri families will fill out the questionnaire, return it to their sponsor, and as soon as they land in
semi-permanent housing, boxes from their sponsors begin to arrive.  Donors are asked to provide basic household items including blankets, pillows, sheets and towels, clothing, baby items, cooking utensils and over the counter medications.

To join the Family-to-Family effort, contact Pam Koner at 914-478-0756, email famtofamily@gmail.com or visit www.family-to-family.org.

About Family-to-Family
Family-to-Family has provided more than 1,000,000 meals through its “family chain” since it was founded almost nine years ago by Westchester County, NY mom Pam Koner. The program creates a bridge between middle to upper middle class communities and some of the most impoverished areas through the U.S. “This organization was created with no agenda other than helping fellow citizens.” Koner says.  “We have found that Family-to-Family taps into a vast reservoir of stored generosity.”

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