PRESS RELEASE TEMPLATE: AMERICORPS*TEXAS DISASTER RELIEF
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date:
Contact: [MEDIA CONTACT]
Telephone: [PHONE]
Email: [EMAIL ADDRESS]
Website: [ORGANIZATION WEBSITE]
[ORGANIZATION NAME] and AmeriCorps*Texas Respond to Hurricane Harvey
AmeriCorps Members activated to support Texans impacted by the hurricane
City, State—[ORGANIZATION NAME] announces the activation of their AmeriCorps members as part of the AmeriCorps*Texas statewide effortto support communities impacted by Hurricane Harvey. During this time of great need in our state, AmeriCorps members responded quickly to provide trained individuals to expand the capacity of existing organizations in local Texan communities.
On September 16th, members were activated by OneStar Foundation to support incoming calls through the Crisis Cleanup’s Virtual Call Center, a nonprofit connecting property cleanup needs with disaster relief organizations. In the first weekend, members returned a backlog of 4,000 calls and members are currently receiving approximately 700 inbound calls per day from individuals impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Crisis Cleanup will be implementing a Spanish language line soon, made possible by AmeriCorps*Texas Spanish speaking members.
[Insert additional language surrounding ORGANIZATION’s specific activities. For example: United Way of El Paso County activated 15 members who have contributed a total of 300 hours and will continue to serve with Crisis Cleanup for the next few weeks. United Way of El Paso anticipates all fifteen members will be a part of the upcoming Spanish language line, helping Spanish-speaking Texans access assistance with property cleanup.]
In addition to the Virtual Call Center, AmeriCorps*Texas Members were deployed to Port Aransas to implement a Volunteer Reception Center and members serving in San Antonio are currently assisting with the State’s Multi-Agency Donations Warehouse. Along with AmeriCorps*Texas members, nearly 800out of state AmeriCorps members have been deployed to support sheltering, donations and volunteer management, and mucking and gutting of homes.
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AmeriCorps*Texas is a portfolio of federally funded, state-level AmeriCorps programs administered by OneStar Foundation, Texas’ State Service Commission. For the 2017-2018 program year, OneStar Foundation will administer $14.3 million in federal funding to engage nearly 3,000 men and women in intensive service at sites across the state, including nonprofits, schools, public agencies, and faith-based and community organizations. For more information, visit
AmeriCorps is administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that engages millions of Americans in service through AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, the Social Innovation Fund, and the Volunteer Generation Fund, and leads the President's national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit
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