Portlight Strategies
Encyclopedia
Portlight Strategies, Inc. is a 501(c)3 organization based in Johns Island, South Carolina
Johns Island, South Carolina
Johns Island, also spelled John's Island, is the largest island in the U.S. State of South Carolina. It is one of the many Sea Islands along the coast of South Carolina.-Background:...

, USA, focusing on hurricane and other disaster relief.

History

Portlight was founded in 1997 as an organization to assist the disabled, by people living with disabilities. In 2008 through co-founder and chairman of the board Paul Timmons, Jr., Portlight assisted Patrick Pearson of Weather Underground
Weather Underground (weather service)
Weather Underground is a commercial weather service that provides real-time weather information via the Internet. Weather Underground provides weather reports for most major cities across the world on its Web site, as well as local weather reports for newspapers and Web sites...

 in organizing relief for survivors of Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike was the second-costliest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States, the costliest hurricane ever to impact Cuba and the second most active hurricane to reach the Canadian mainland in the Great Lakes Region after Hurricane Hazel in 1954...

 in Texas. This led to a lasting partnership with Weather Underground and a change in focus to disaster relief, particularly for "the underserved, unserved and forgotten people," those with disabilities and in rural areas. Portlight has since organized annual fundraising walkathons called relief walks in communities around the US, with Weather Underground as sponsoring partner. In 2010, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation awarded Portlight a $21,500.00 grant in association with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...

 to pay for a deployable disaster relief module to assist disabled people in the first two weeks after a disaster.

Assistance activities

Examples of disasters in which Portlight has partnered with individuals and groups to deliver assistance:
  • 2005: Assistance to disabled survivors of Hurricane Katrina
    Hurricane Katrina
    Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...

  • 2008: Over $500,000 worth of goods and services delivered to survivors of Hurricane Ike
    Hurricane Ike
    Hurricane Ike was the second-costliest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States, the costliest hurricane ever to impact Cuba and the second most active hurricane to reach the Canadian mainland in the Great Lakes Region after Hurricane Hazel in 1954...

    , and also pizza for residents of the devastated Bolivar Peninsula and relief workers and a Christmas party for residents of Bridge City, Texas
    Bridge City, Texas
    Bridge City is a city in Orange County, Texas, United States. The population was 8,651 at the 2000 census. The town borders the Neches River and Cow Bayou. It is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area....

    .
  • 2010: Aid to survivors of the 2010 Haiti earthquake
    2010 Haiti earthquake
    The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks...

    , particularly durable medical equipment for the disabled, working among others with disability attorney Thomas K. Small
  • 2011: Aid to survivors of the April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak
    April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak
    An extremely large and violent tornado outbreak, the largest tornado outbreak ever recorded, and popularly known as the 2011 Super Outbreak, occurred from April 25 to 28, 2011. The outbreak affected the Southern, Midwestern, and Northeastern United States, leaving catastrophic destruction in...

     in communities including Arab, Alabama
    Arab, Alabama
    Arab is a city in both Cullman County, Alabama and Marshall County, Alabama in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Alabama, located ten miles from Guntersville Lake and Guntersville Dam, and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area...

    , Cullman, Alabama
    Cullman, Alabama
    Cullman is a city in Cullman County, State of Alabama. Cullman is located along Interstate 65, about north of Birmingham, and about south of Huntsville. According to the U.S...

    , Ringgold, Georgia
    Ringgold, Georgia
    Ringgold is a city in Catoosa County, Georgia, United States. The population was 2,422 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Catoosa County...

    , Chattanooga, Tennessee
    Chattanooga, Tennessee
    Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...

    , and Bristol, Virginia
    Bristol, Virginia
    Bristol is an independent city in Virginia, United States, bounded by Washington County, Virginia, Bristol, Tennessee, and Sullivan County, Tennessee....

    , 2011 Joplin tornado
    2011 Joplin tornado
    The 2011 Joplin tornado was a devastating EF5 multiple-vortex tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, USA late in the afternoon of Sunday, May 22, 2011. It was part of a larger late-May tornado outbreak sequence and reached a maximum width of in excess of during its path through the southern part of...

    , and Hurricane Irene (2011)
    Hurricane Irene (2011)
    Hurricane Irene was a large and powerful Atlantic hurricane that left extensive flood and wind damage along its path through the Caribbean, the United States East Coast and as far north as Atlantic Canada in 2011...

    .
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