Local charity to help in flooded Midwest

From staff reports
Published: June 27, 2008

Gleaning for the World, the Concord-based charity, is amassing supplies to send to the Midwest where rains have caused what might be the worst flooding in more than a century.

Gleaning is getting more than 120,000 bottles of water, 10,000 blankets and eight truckloads of furniture ready, according to spokesman Ismal LaBiosa.

Once assembled, all the charity needs will need is “the word to ship them,” he said, referring to getting the go-sign from officials and other charities on-site.

The flooding in six states along parts of the Mississippi River and its tributaries has left at least two dozen people dead, injured some 150 others and displaced more than 36,000 families.

Gleaning has also been involved recently in getting relief supplies into Myanmar. A massive cyclone last month swamped a large section of the country, killing approximately 85,000 people and displacing as many as than one million.

Representatives from Gleaning – rated as one of the country’s most efficient charities by Forbes.com, and given four stars by Charity Navigator – plan to be at Liberty University’s Celebrate America 2008 Sunday to raise funds for relief efforts in both the Midwest and Myanmar, LaBiosa said.

For information, call (434) 993-3600 or visit http://www.GFTW.org.