Vermont Public and the VCF Launch Joint Campaign to Raise Flood Recovery Funds

Photo Courtesy: Zach and Olivia Mangione, Cross Farm

In response to multiple recent flooding events, Vermont Public and the VCF are joining forces to raise money for the VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund beginning today and running through August 16, 2024.

Donations to the fund will help communities where torrents of water destroyed homes, cratered roads, and filled farm fields and businesses with mud and debris. The two-week campaign will include on-air promotions on Vermont Public urging people to give to the VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation, which was created after catastrophic flooding in July of 2023. The fund is now being reinvigorated to respond to the fresh disasters that took place in July 2024, triggering a new wave of damage and heartbreak.

"As a statewide organization, Vermont Public has a unique ability to reach every community in our state," said Brendan Kinney, Interim CEO of Vermont Public. "Our job, especially in response to natural disasters, is to keep Vermonters informed about what's happening on the ground and to provide important safety and emergency alert information. We also have a history of joining forces with the Vermont Community Foundation, lending our platforms to the cause of flood relief and recovery. Vermont Public's audience is incredibly generous, and we are grateful that they continue to rise to the occasion when we put out the call for help."

Dan Smith, President & CEO of the Vermont Community Foundation, thanked Vermont Public and its supporters for pitching in with flood relief. “The events of last year and the events of this July remind us that partnership is a piece of infrastructure that no flood can wash away. Yet again, Vermonters need help and hope, and I am grateful for partners like Vermont Public who are stepping up once more,” Smith said. “Vermonters look out for one another. A year ago, the Vermont Public audience raised more than $875,000 to support their neighbors through the Flood Fund. As communities work to recover yet again, we are deeply grateful for this new effort and the contributions that will move us forward.”

The VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund raised nearly $14 million to respond to the 2023 flooding and distributed money to more than 100 communities. Partners were vital to the effort, including Vermont Public, which ran a special campaign that inspired thousands of individual donations.

Now, in the wake of the flooding in the past three weeks, the VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund has granted more than $300,000 to hard-hit towns, the Vermont Chapter of the American Red Cross, and local long-term recovery groups that are helping with clean-up, dispatching volunteers, and assisting residents as they apply for state and federal help.

More grants are on the way and contributions will help build on the efforts to support immediate and long-term recovery.

Vermont Public has a long history of fundraising for critical causes. Both VPR and Vermont PBS raised money for flood relief following Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. After 9/11, VPR held a campaign to help replace WNYC’s transmitter and raised money for the Red Cross after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The nonprofit Vermont Community Foundation has coordinated philanthropic responses to crises throughout its history. Its VT COVID-19 Fund put nearly $11 million to work in Vermont communities and the Foundation raised more than $4 million to rebuild communities after Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.

To give to the VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund go to vermontcf.org/givetofloodrelief

To learn more about the work of the VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund go to vtfloodresponse.org

Vermont Public has extensive resources, safety information, and news coverage about the flooding at vermontpublic.org.