The United Way of Southwest Michigan has sprung into action to help those affected by tornadoes in Cass, St. Joseph, and Branch counties on Friday.
United Way Senior Director Zack East tells us they’ve activated the Southwest Michigan Cares Fund to support recovery efforts. He says the organization is now coordinating with the United Ways in each county to help bolster their capabilities and is asking the community to make donations to help once the rebuilding starts.
“Some of the things that might need to be bought and purchased in the coming weeks are really what these monetary donations are going to help with,” East said. “It’s going to help with things like the cost of products and services to do house repairs or to buy food for food pantries that don’t get donated.”
The storms killed four people, injured at least a dozen others, and left a trail of destruction through communities including Edwardsburg, Three Rivers, and Union City. East says it will be a while before the communities are whole again, and they need everyone’s help.
Meanwhile, East notes anyone can check VolunteerUnited.org to find out how they could assist on the ground.
“As we get more information, which it’s coming in pretty much hour by hour, for volunteer needs that we might need to send people or supplies toward, we’ll be updating that volunteer need. So it would be best for folks to make a profile on the website so they get those alerts.”
East says the Southwest Michigan Cares Fund was established specifically for moments like this, and donations made to the fund will be distributed to local organizations and community partners working on the front lines of recovery.
The website is SouthwestMichiganCares.org.
