Springfield faith-based disaster relief non-profit Convoy of Hope has entered into an aid and response agreement with communities along the Mississippi river.
The Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative is a group of 107 mayors. Representatives of that group made the announcement Wednesday during a conference in Minneapolis.
Mayor of Cape Girardeau Stacy Kinder introduced the agreement and described the extreme weather communities along the river have faced this spring and summer, including record rainfall and drought as well as tornados.
“Yet in the face of over $2 billion worth of losses since March just for Missouri,” Kinder explained, “the future of FEMA and the US disaster mitigation and response apparatus remains in considerable flux. MRCTI cities have led the nation in disaster mitigation policy, however, we have more work we can do in the immediate response and recovery side.”
Kinder said the agreement would promise disaster relief to any MRCTI member community within 72 hours.
Stacy Lamb, Convoy of Hope’s Vice President of Disaster Services represented the non-profit in Minneapolis.
“This partnership isn’t just about responding,” Lamb said. “It’s about building resilience, it’s about mayors and emergency managers, churches and non-profits and Convoy of Hope working side-by-side to prepare communities so that they’re stronger and better equipped when the next crisis comes.”