GREATER MIAMI JEWISH FEDERATION SUPPLIES AID TO VICTIMS

By 3:30 p.m. the Greater Miami Jewish Federation had put together a campaign to help Surfside building collapse victims.

Checks with the notation “Surfside Building Collapse” can be mailed to: Greater Miami Jewish Federation, 4200 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33137.

For more information about the Greater Miami Jewish Federation’s special relief funds, call 305-576-4000.

Operation Helping Hands

Operation Helping Hands is a partnership between United Way of Miami-Dade and the Miami Herald/el Nuevo Herald that was created in 1998 in the aftermath of hurricanes Mitch and Georges. Since then, it has been reactivated in response to disasters and other emergency situations such as the COVID-19 global pandemic and now, the aftermath of the building collapse in Surfside.

Here’s how to support and assist families with their short- and long-term recovery needs:

Operation Helping Hands donation link

VolunteerMiami volunteer link

Miami Heat, Knight Foundation and others team up to create hardship fund for victims

The Miami Heat, the Miami Heat Charitable Fund, the Coral Gables Community Foundation, the Key Biscayne Community Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and The Miami Foundation are working together to build a hardship fund for those impacted by the Surfside building collapse.

This hardship fund will allow residents both locally, and nationwide, to give toward relief efforts.

Contributions to the fund can be made here.

GoFundMe creates hub to find fundraisers aiding survivors

Following the partial condo collapse, GoFundMe has created a hub for willing donors to safely aid survivors of the tragedy.

So far, GoFundMe is tracking six fundraisers that have been verified. You can find the donation hub here.

American Red Cross

The American Red Cross is at the scene of the collapse helping authorities with rescue efforts. It offers several online and mail options for donating.

The Red Cross isn’t yet accepting donations for the collapse, but does for the organization and other disasters.”

To donate online visit https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation.html. For those who want to donate by check or to a specific cause, there is a donation form that must be printed and sent to: American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37839, Boone, IA 50037-0839.

Shul of Bal Harbour, Skylake Synagogue ask for items in donation triage

A steady flow of donations is pouring into the Shul of Bal Harbour, where on Thursday evening a group of around 20 volunteers unloaded crates of food, blankets, and more to be distributed to community members displaced by the condo collapse.

An online donation fund set up by the Shul of Bal Harbour had raised more than $160,000 by Thursday afternoon from over 1,300 donors.

Catholic Charities, local Archdiocese of Miami clergy join rescue efforts

Catholic Charities is on-site to see what resources families will need. Catholic Charities is accepting donations for those affected by Thursday’s tragedy. Information on how to donate can be found online at ccadm.org.

State resources open for businesses, displaced residents affected by collapse

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity has activated the Business Damage Assessment Survey to gather such information on the impacted local community to ensure proper resources are available.

The FDEO is using the survey to assess how much revenue loss, physical damage and other impacts the damage has had on local businesses.

It will share the results with various state and local agencies to implement appropriate relief programs. The survey can be taken at FloridaDisaster.biz BusinessDamageAssessments by selecting the “Surfside Condo Collapse.” For additional assistance, please call 850-815-4925.

The Florida Housing Finance Corporation has also been directed to begin actively working with landlords in Miami-Dade to find rental vacancies for any displaced residents of the condo complex in Surfside.

Displaced residents can use FHFC’s rental locator at https://www.floridahousingsearch.org/ or call 1-877-428-8844 if they are unable to access the website.

Florida Blue offers grief counseling help line

Florida Blue, along with New Directions Behavioral Health, is offering a free 24-hour-a-day grief counseling help line for those in need of support following the Surfside collapse.

Callers will be connected to trained professionals, who can help people experiencing feelings of stress, anxiety, trauma and grief.

Anyone in Florida is eligible and insurance is not needed. The help line, which also offers bilingual emotional support, can be reached at 833-848-1762.

Financial Donations

Donate to The Surfside Hardship Fund: The Coral Gables Community Foundation, the Miami Foundation, and the Key Biscayne Community Foundation are asking Miami-Dade County residents to contribute to The Surfside Hardship Fund. Donors can use PayPal or credit cards.
Here is the page.

Donate to The Greater Miami Jewish Federation: They have established an emergency fund for short-term and long-term needs. The federation is accepting checks with the notation Surfside Building Collapse at 4200 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33137. They are also accepting donations
via credit card. For more information about the fund, call 305-576-4000 or

visit this page.

Donate to The Shul of Bal Harbour: They are accepting donations for those impacted by the collapse. To donate visit

www.theshul.org/8777.

Donate to The Miami Heat Charitable Fund: They are working with the humanitarian organization Direct Relief and raising funds to help survivors and first responders.

Here is the page.

Donate to one of GoFundMe’s Verified GoFundMe Pages: GoFundMe has launched a centralized hub identifying all verified fundraisers.

Here is the page.

Donate to Operation Helping Hands: Operation Helping Hands, a partnership between United Way of Miami-Dade and the Miami Herald/el Nuevo Herald, is assisting with relief efforts. Here’s how to support and assist families with their short-term and long-term recovery needs: Operation Helping Hands

donation link
. VolunteerMiami

volunteer link
.

Donate to Global Empowerment Mission: Michael Capponi’s organization, Global Empowerment Mission, has set up a Champlain Tower Residents Fund. Packing begins at 11:00 a.m. To donate,
click here.

Volunteering

Volunteer to help families: The town of Surfside activated a form online for Miami-Dade County residents who want to volunteer to help the families of the victims. They are in need of support. You must specify the service you can provide.

Here is the official volunteer form
.

Family Assistance Center (no longer necessary)

No longer needed: There is
no longer a need for items to be brought to the town’s improvised Family Assistance Center. Officials said they will advise if more physical donations are needed in the future, but they are requesting people no longer go there with donations.

Provide Information

Complete a Wellness Check: Officials are asking the survivors of the collapse to fill out this

Wellness Check form
and relatives of the people who are unaccounted for to fill out this

Missing Person Report.

Somerset Academy Charter South Miami Donation Drive

Donate to the Somerset Academy Charter South Miami: They are joining the relief efforts to help victims, families, and first responders. From June 28 through June 30, they are hosting a donation drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. You may donate snacks, bottled water, drinks, pillows, blankets, travel size toiletries, and phone chargers. Somerset Academy is located at 5876 SW 68th St, Miami, FL 33143.
Click here for more information.

How To Help Right Now

Support Those Impacted by the Building Collapse in Surfside

Our thoughts are collectively with our friends and neighbors in Surfside who were impacted by a devastating building collapse at Champlain Towers on Thursday, June 24.

The Coral Gables Community Foundation, The Key Biscayne Community Foundation, The Miami Foundation, and Miami HEAT have launched a fund to financially support those impacted. If you would like to contribute, visit supportsurfside.org.

While the Town of Surfside has stated volunteers are not immediately needed, you can provide your information on their Volunteer Registration Form and someone will contact you if volunteers are needed.

The City of Sunny Isles Beach will also be collecting new supply donations (with new packaging and tags) for building residents of Champlain Towers. Accepted supplies include:

• Clothing and shoes in various sizes for adults and children
• Personal hygiene products such as soap, deodorants, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hairbrushes, and razors
• Children’s toys and books

Supplies can be dropped off inside of the Sunny Isles Beach Government Center, 18070 Collins Avenue, during operating hours:

Monday – Friday, 7:30 am – 5 pm
Saturday & Sunday, Closed