U.S. retailers and corporations including Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, Amazon and Apple have announced they are donating millions to help Hurricane Helene victims who are still lacking basic necessities and facing a long road to recovery.
Lowes announced on Sept. 30 it is donating $2 million to support relief efforts in multiple states impacted by the hurricane, helping nonprofits and first responders with critical needs such as shelter, food and water and also long-term rebuilding efforts.
“This storm has created a life-altering path of destruction from Florida to the Mid-Atlantic—especially here in our home state of North Carolina,” said Marvin Ellison, Lowe’s chairman and CEO, in a press release.
Lowes is also hosting relief events to distribute cleanup supplies to the affected areas, and helping to get products such as water, chainsaws and generators to those in need.
Lowes’ rival, Home Depot, also announced on Sept. 30 that the Home Depot Foundation (HDF) is committing up to $2 million to support immediate disaster relief in communities impacted by the hurricane.
HDF’s nonprofit partners are also mobilizing teams to assess damage and deliver relief supplies, and also beginning to help with cleanup and repairs.
Their partners include Convoy of Hope, Operation Blessing, World Central Kitchen, Inspiritus, Team Rubicon, and ToolBank Disaster Services, which all play a role in the immediate aftermath of a disaster and its recovery.
Walmart recently pledged an initial $6 million to hurricane relief efforts including donations of food, water and essential items and to grants to groups providing relief.
“Our customers and members are some of the most generous people we know,” the retailer announced in a press release.
“As part of this commitment, Walmart will help magnify their impact by matching their donations to the American Red Cross 1:1, up to $2.5 million, when they donate to support hurricane relief at the registers in stores and clubs and on Walmart.com from Sept. 30 – Oct. 13.”
Apple CEO Jim Cook also announced on X on Sept. 30 that the tech company would be donating, though he did not specify the amount.
“We’re thinking of all those facing the catastrophic aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Apple will be making a donation to help with relief efforts on the ground,” Cook wrote.
Apple did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request on the specifics of their donation.
The e-commerce giant Amazon pledged to begin its efforts to help hurricane victims by mobilizing resources to help impacted regions in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.
Amazon announced on Sept. 27, immediately after the storm hit, that its disaster relief and response team was working with local partners and organizations to deliver critical supplies to those in need.
“As emergency response teams assess damage in the aftermath of the storm, our AWS cloud computing capabilities are being used to capture high-resolution aerial imagery of affected regions, assisting rescue and relief operations on the ground,” the company announced on its website.
Amazon also indicated it was coordinating with partners to ship Amazon-donated items, including water, diapers, personal hygiene kits and tarps from their Disaster Relief Hub in Atlanta.
Amazon did not respond by press time as to what their efforts have entailed so far.
