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Save the Children Honored for Katrina Recovery Work
Westport, Conn. (October 5, 2007) — The Mississippi Early Childhood Association (MSECA) has honored Save the Children for its continued efforts to serve young children impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
At their annual conference, MSECA presented Save the Children and the Mississippi Department of Human Services, Office for Children and Youth, with an award for "outstanding teamwork collaboration and cooperation for the benefit of young children." The award recognizes Save the Children's efforts to "restore healthy, high quality educational environments for the youngest members of our communities."
Since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Save the Children has served over 70,000 children and caregivers in impacted communities. Working with community partners, Save the Children has supported the restoration of child care, after-school and summer programs for children, rebuilt playgrounds, served families in temporary housing sites and provided programs offering structured play activities to help build resilience and a sense of normalcy and community.
Save the Children has worked with Chevron, the Early Childhood Institute at Mississippi State University and the Help and Hope Foundation to rebuild and resupply 37 child care centers in eight Mississippi counties, where 80 percent of child care facilities were damaged or destroyed by Katrina. The partnership has helped restore over 2,600 child care slots, supporting not only families returning to their jobs, but the local economy as well.
Recently, Chevron and the Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund, a fund of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, awarded Save the Children $3.8 million to further the agency's child care restoration efforts.
The agency's Domestic Emergency Unit is applying lessons learned from the Katrina recovery effort to their work to promote improved national planning to respond to and protect the needs of children in future disasters.
"Save the Children is honored to be recognized by the Mississippi Early Childhood Association and shares this award with the many community partners who have made possible our work for children and families across the Gulf Coast," said Mark Shriver, Vice President and Managing Director of Save the Children's US Programs.
