Bertie County Disaster Fund

Thank you to all who have helped us DOUBLE our initial goal of $5000 for tornado relief in Bertie County. This morning we distributed the first two of 20 $500 grants to families in need.

We will cap our immediate assistance funding at $10,000, but any donations made beyond the initial $10,000 raised will be earmarked for long-term reconstruction and related post-tornado rebuilding projects led by Project H and Studio H (our high school design/build program) in Bertie County. While these projects have yet to be identified, we are working closely with the affected communities to assess our best points of impact. Ongoing relief efforts will likely include architectural or service-based programming from home repairs or new construction to large-scale clean-up and community events.

Thank you again!!

The support we've seen for families affected by the Bertie County tornado is astonishing - far and wide and more generous than we ever could have imagined. We are now just $755 short of $10,000, which would provide 20 $500 grants to families in need. The first two of our grants are going out to families in Askewville, North Carolina this morning, and we hope to have the rest distributed tomorrow through the end of the week. If we can hit $10,000, we'll call it a day and be forever grateful to all of you who have contributed to our recovery. Thank you!

To all who have so generously contributed to the families of Bertie County, THANK YOU so much. We are humbled by your generosity, and have raised our goal amount to $7500, to provide not 10 but 15 families with basic needs grants, which we hope to distribute tomorrow afternoon.

Dear friends of Project H Design:

Around 7pm on Saturday April 16th, a tornado tore through Bertie County, striking the towns of Askewville, Colerain, and surrounding areas. It leveled houses and took the lives of 14 residents, injuring many more. While we at Project H were lucky, some of our Studio H students and their families lost their homes and property. The tornado is particularly devastating as it comes not long after last fall's flood, which destroyed downtown Windsor and parts of the rest of the county.

As an organization, we do not consider ourselves to be in the business of post-disaster aid, but Bertie County is our home, and we are personally invested in the livelihood of our friends, colleagues, and students who live and work here. A few of our Studio H students, and students from the Bertie Early College High School in which we teach, were acutely affected by the tornado.

While we realize we can't do as much as we would like, Project H does have an amazing group of global supporters like you, who have already emailed and called asking what you can do to help.

We would like to raise $5,000 in order to provide ten $500 "basic need" grants to families who have been most severely affected by the tornado.

Specifically, we personally know of three families with children at the Bertie Early College High School, who have lost their homes, and to whom we would like to provide this grant. Additional families will be selected based on severity of damage and immediate needs.

$500 will sponsor one family's basic needs, supplies, clothing, food, in the upcoming weeks, though any amount will be greatly appreciated. Please help us support our students and neighbors in Bertie County. Thank you in advance for your generosity and empathy.

Sincerely,

Emily Pilloton and Matthew Miller
Project H Design / Studio H
www.projecthdesign.org
www.studio-h.org

** All donations to Project H Design are tax-deductible, and will go directly to the victims of the tornado. Grants will be issued to families as soon as funds are received.