by WorldTribune Staff, October 10, 2024 Contract With Our Readers
Data from the Department of Homeland Security show that FEMA spent $4.9 billion on Covid relief projects in September. As of Tuesday, the agency spent $210 million on relief for Hurricane Helene victims. The disaster relief agency has also reportedly spent hundreds of millions on resettling migrants.
“The pandemic marked the first time FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund had been used on a public health crisis, and the agency said it is still using funds for vaccine testing, personal protective equipment and funeral assistance, among other things,” Newsweek noted.
The White House said the $210 million reflects “the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to helping impacted communities recover and rebuild.”
Stepping in to fill the void left by FEMA are several conservative charitable corporations.
Walmart, Goya, and credit card firm Coign, among others, “are helping victims of Hurricane Helene, and they are eyeing expansion for Hurricane Milton,” Paul Bedard wrote in an Oct. 8 op-ed for the Washington Examiner.
Walmart is donating $6 million and thousands of pounds of food and water.
Goya Cares has teamed with Women for Trump to ship food to the disaster zone.
Bass Pro Shops and Rev. Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse “are also delivering goods and money to relief efforts as the federal government grapples with the disaster and slowly puts officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in place,” Bedard wrote.
Former President Donald Trump helped establish a Hurricane Helene victim’s GoFundMe page that raised over $7 million from 2,600 donors by noon on Tuesday.
Rob Collins, the founder and CEO of Coign, a Visa credit card created to help consumers steer philanthropic efforts to conservative causes, told Bedard that it has contributed to Trump’s GoFundMe and Samaritan’s Purse and plans to steer some of its transaction fees to conservative causes such as the Helene projects.
Collins, the former executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said that some of the company’s customers asked to make its donations to conservative charities helping with Helene’s victims.
“We got 300-400 emails from folks saying we’ve got to help out with Hurricane Helene. People had suggestions, and we were able to accommodate them by giving to the Trump GoFundMe and Samaritan’s Purse,” Collins told Bedard.
Collins said those who have the Visa card can invest as little as $500.
“We had a first-week goal of $50,000 — we blew through that in a day. You know, we’re probably at almost near $400,000,” he said.