Chevron funding to help thousands of children in hurricane-affected counties

Five year old Amy plays on a tire swing in front of a commuity center in Pearlington, Miss.

Long Beach, Miss. (June 21, 2006) — Humanitarian agency Save the Children today received $2 million from the Chevron Corporation to continue assisting children and parents in hurricane-ravaged southern Mississippi by rebuilding child care facilities.

The donation was part of Chevron’s new $18 million Energy for Learning initiative, which will assist hurricane-affected public schools and early childhood education centers in 23 school districts throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. Mississippi’s Governor Haley Barbour and Dr. Hank Bounds, Superintendent of the Mississippi Department of Education, spoke at the press conference held at Pascagoula High School.

"This program is a demonstration of the value of partnerships,” said Governor Barbour. “The Chevron Corporation has been a leader in restoring education in our state after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Save the Children, in partnership with Chevron and Mississippi State University, has set the standard in rebuilding child care facilities in our communities. There is no question that child care and education are the primary needs in rebuilding our economy.”  

Recognizing the critical role of child care to individual and economic recovery from the disaster, Save the Children, the Chevron Corporation and Mississippi State University partnered just weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. This new funding strengthens that partnership, allowing Save the Children to broaden its efforts throughout the Gulf Coast communities.

“Creating safe spaces for children is critically important after a crisis such as Hurricane Katrina,” said Jeanne-Aimee De Marrais, team leader for Save the Children’s Katrina Response. “Children have lost homes, pets, belongings and sometimes even family members and friends. We know from our years of dealing with emergencies around the world that schools, child care centers and after-school programs provide services essential to a return to normalcy and, ultimately, recovery.”

Save the Children currently supports schools, child care facilities, summer camps and local child and youth service organizations in Hancock and Harrison counties in Mississippi, as well as in the greater New Orleans area and Baton Rouge in Louisiana, and in Bayou La Batre, Alabama.