GBI, other organizations join together to help storm victims

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is joining other state law enforcement agencies, an Atlanta television station, the Georgia Motor Trucking Association, the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA) and Caring for Others, Inc., to help raise funds for south Georgia residents who survived the tornado outbreak last month.

“The communities in south Georgia need money to be able to fund specific needs of each individual resident, whether it’s to cut down trees or to restore homes,” said Tim McVay, WSB-TV vice president and general manager. “That’s why we are urging our viewers to make cash donations now.”

The Convoy of Care will take a load of supplies to south Georgia on Sunday. Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Albany will be accepting the donations and distributing supplies on site. Volunteers from Caring for Others and the law firm Stewart, Seay and Felton will load up the tractor trailer truck donated by Holland, Inc. which was part of the first Convoy of Care that saw five tractor trailer trucks go to flood ravaged Baton Rouge, La. last August.

Law enforcement organizations including the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association, along with state agencies; Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles, Georgia State Patrol, and Georgia Bureau of Investigation, have pledged to use their network to raise the awareness of the Convoy of Care online fundraising effort.

“We’re all One Georgia, and we want to continue to demonstrate how law enforcement serves the very communities we are sworn to protect,” said Clarence Cox, national vice president of NOBLE.

Funds being collected through Caring for Others will be disbursed directly to Long Term Recovery Committees being established in the Berrien, Cook, Crisp, Dougherty, Thomas, Turner, Wilcox, and Worth counties in coordination with GEMA, Caring for Others is accepting online cash donations at caring4others.org – click on “South Georgia Disaster Relief” at the top of the page or checks may be mailed to Caring for Others, Inc., 3537 Browns Mill Road, Atlanta, Ga., 30354. Please indicate that you are donating to South Georgia Tornado Relief.

“The men and women of the GBI are honored to partner with Channel 2 WSB and our law enforcement counterparts in raising money for the tornado victims in South Georgia. This money is desperately needed so that they can begin to rebuild their lives,” said GBI Director Vernon Keenan.

Seventeen Georgians were killed by tornadoes that blew through South Georgia in January and caused more than $100 million worth of damage. State Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens says much of the damage was to structures and properties that were uninsured.

Last week, Columbus Technical College joined other Georgia vocational schools in gathering goods for Albany, where a Jan. 22 storm damaged Albany Technical College.

This story was originally published February 7, 2017 at 9:11 AM with the headline "GBI, other organizations join together to help storm victims."