54 HOT Emergency Fund for Victims of Terror and Natural Disasters In 2005, HOT worked with many in the community to provide trucks and supplies during the first 10 days following Hurricane Katrina. In the same year, we helped to provide food, bus passes and emergency lodging to victims of Hurricane Wilma. During the 2006 war with Hezbollah, HOT helped meet the immediate needs of a de facto refugee population as those near areas under attack fled to the center of Israel and helped to secure matching funds to open an Emergency Command Center in a secure bunker. In the years since… in 2007… 2008… through 2014, we developed and deepened our relationships with partners in the South as they endured rocket attacks from Hamas. We have been there during each crisis, helping with food, shelter and respite. And when the attacks subsided, we were there to help victims deal with the emotional trauma that they had suffered. In 2010, a devastating earthquake displaced a tremendous portion of the Haitian population. We worked directly with one of our partners to help the families of some of these victims in Miami’s “Little Haiti.”—depending on them to get help to their families rather than sending money or supplies directly to Haiti where the help could be siphoned off by corrupt officials or other “profiteers.” See pages 51 and 52 to see what we did for the citizens of Haiti in 2016. And in 2012, Hurricane – or “Super Storm” – Sandy ravaged coastal areas in New Jersey, New York City and Long Island. We partnered with multiple organizations to: bring truckloads of food, clothing, hygiene products and other basic necessities to areas hit hard; brought electric power back to many who lost it by providing new circuit breakers to replace damaged ones; funded a bus and supplies for 44 student volunteers (see p. 29) to travel from Florida to New York (and then back to Florida) to provide critical manpower for cleanup and rebuilding and we made, and had challenge grants matched, which multiplied the effectiveness of our donors’ dollars. And in Fall 2016, 11 years after Hurricane Katrina, much of the same Gulf area was hit by devastating floods, and HOT again found a way to promptly help those in need. No trucks this time – a HOT volunteer had a relationship with a church in Baton Rouge that gave us lists of what was critically needed. This time HOT eliminated trucking costs and used “Amazon Prime” to make deliveries directly to the distribution center. No wasted costs… sending only what was specifically needed – not like other well- meaning organizations that send whatever they receive from their well-meaning donors, whether needed or not. The process of recovery was slow because houses in poor areas were under water and mold needed to be completely eliminated before they could be re-inhabited. In some cases, there was little or no help from government agencies if houses did not “fit within specifically designated boundaries.” HOT helped those in need, whether they lived within or without “designated boundaries.” Then came Matthew - see p. 53. HOT has used undesignated funds for all its emergency relief other than the 2014 Gaza War and the 2016 and 2017 hurricanes (during which we had emergency campaigns). HOT needs to be financially prepared to act immediately when there are more disasters. When you are making your decision of what to give to HOT this year and what to designate it to, think of all that we have done and how quickly we did it, and consider helping us build up a fund to be available for the next disaster. We would like our donors to designate $500,000 towards a fund that can be used in those first critical days.