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Last month, The Salvation Army, the U.S. Green Building Council, the U.S. Chamber Business Civic Leadership Center, Harvard, MIT, the City of San Francisco, one of America’s leading architects and officials at FedEx got together at their world headquarters to talk about how this coalition of partners can join together in the post-disaster, long-term recovery effort.
It all started when Salvation Army Major Ethan Frizzell noticed the prevalence of “three-walled homes” in New Orleans during the recovery phase after Hurricane Katrina: homes hastily built by well-meaning volunteers but left incomplete.
He realized that in the wake of disasters, organizations are often in such a hurry to show up and “put back what was there,” but Major Frizzell thought: “Why not build back better?”
This thought led him to create the EnviRenew project with the help of the partners named above. Together, they’re working on plans to change how we approach disaster recovery. They’re focusing their efforts on putting neighborhoods back together in sustainable, effective and efficient ways.
FedEx has long been a major force in disaster relief and a great partner to us. But like a lot of organizations, they want to explore new and better ways of impacting the long-term recovery phase. In other words: “building back better!”
And we’re delighted to have their support and help.
From salvationarmyexpectchange.org
