Find out what Operation Blessing and its partners are doing! The journal is a daily briefing of OBI’s activities in the Gulf Coast to keep you informed on food distribution, tree and debris removal, Fast Cash Grants, mobile kitchen and feeding station reports, community relief efforts and much more!

The Hunger Strike Force, Operation Blessing’s fleet of 53-foot long tractor trailer trucks, is a critical part of OBI’s relief supply distribution. Truckloads of food, diapers, blankets, construction materials and other essential emergency supplies are being dispatched from across the U.S. to the Gulf States most devastated by the recent hurricanes.

Operation Blessing, in partnership with The Salvation Army, the Southern Baptist and other faith-based organizations, is distributing food and supplies to a number of mobile kitchens and feeding stations strategically placed in disaster relief areas. Mobile kitchens, including OBI’s 53-foot facility, are fully-equipped with grills, ovens and refrigerators, and staffed with hundreds of volunteers who are serving thousands of hot meals a day to hurricane victims. Sites are also stocked with ice, water and other emergency supplies for distribution.

In order to provide immediate emergency relief, Operation Blessing – acting as a national intermediary - is awarding Fast Cash Grants to a network of partnering faith-and-community based organizations located in disaster-affected regions. Grants allow grassroots leadership in churches and small relief groups to utilize funds to quickly meet the emergency needs of their specific communities, through the purchase of medical supplies, food, water, clothing, providing shelter, and construction and debris removal. Fast Cash Grants totaling over $4.5 million have been awarded to church groups and smaller relief groups in states including Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, and Florida, following the unprecedented devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Operation Blue Tarp and Recovery Program

A major component of disaster relief is tree removal, debris clean-up and roof repair. Using an 18-ton capacity crane and construction loaders, Operation Blessing is clearing trees and debris at no charge to hurricane survivors to prepare residential sites for the installation of an estimated 22,000 FEMA trailers. Operation Blue Tarp enlists the help of volunteer crews to secure blue tarps onto roofs and protect homes from further damage.

• Relief Supplies by State
• Operation Blessing's Gulf Coast Hurricane Relief Activities
• 2005 Hurricane Season: Cash Grant Recipients
• Volunteer with OBI in the Gulf Coast
• Hurricane Katrina Blog and Field Journal
• Photo Gallery: Katrina Relief
• OBI Video News Stream
  

• OBI Responds to Wilma
• OBI, AmeriCorps Partner to Repair Roofs
• Lousiana Resident Receives Help, New Home
• Photo Gallery: Katrina Relief
• New Mobile Kitchen Serves Thousands
• OBI Distributions Easing Suffering of Katrina Victims
• Kitchens Providing Essential Aid to Hurricane Victims
  

• 2004 Hurricane Relief
• National Hurricane Center
• FEMA Disaster Information
• OBI Disaster Relief
• Hurricane Recovery Library
• Charity Navigator Rating
  

An international humanitarian aid organization dedicated to alleviating human need and suffering by providing food, water, medicine and disaster relief to those in need.

Contact Operation Blessing online or by phone at 1-800-730-2537

Charity Navigator, America's premier charity evaluator, has awarded Operation Blessing four stars, its highest rating.