BOSTON – The GE Foundation announced a donation of US$100,000 to provide immediate relief to Kentucky families whose homes were destroyed and lives uprooted after the recent devastating tornadoes. The donation will fund CARE, a leading humanitarian relief organization, and provide cash assistance to more than 170 displaced households, giving families the ability to purchase whatever they most need to weather the early days of the recovery. CARE will work with community organizers on the ground to identify families that are now homeless due to the destruction. In addition to the organization’s donation, GE employees can support relief efforts through its Matching Gifts Program.
“The GE Foundation is proud to work with CARE and support Kentucky families as they begin the long road to recovery,” said Linda Boff, President, GE Foundation, and Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer of GE.
GE employees who make eligible donations to CARE or other participating charities can register for a match with the GE Foundation’s Matching Gifts program, which supports employees’ personal philanthropy and charitable giving by providing a 1:1 match. The GE Foundation created the concept of a corporate matching gift program in 1954. Today, the program continues to serve as an important element of the Foundation’s portfolio, with gifts matched in 2020 totaling $16.8 million.
“We are so grateful to the GE Foundation for their generous donation. This contribution will be used to provide cash assistance to families who have lost everything in the tornado. It is generosity like this that enables us to help families rebuild and recover after the worst moments in their lives,” said Ryan Shepard, CARE’s Associate Vice President for Domestic Programming.
GE’s Disaster and Humanitarian Relief program responds to major global disasters and humanitarian crises, drawing on GE’s people, technology and other resources to reduce suffering and hasten recovery. Since 2020, GE Foundation’s philanthropic contribution in disaster relief totaled nearly $5.4 million, which was largely focused on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, the GE Foundation provided grants to support Afghan refugee resettlement in the U.S., and to communities experiencing food insecurity in Argentina, Brazil, Peru and South Africa.
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