INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
As cities in Hurricane Florence path deal with its aftermath, Google will match up to $1 million in donations to help with relief
efforts.
The disaster death toll is currently 35 people and about 343,000 people in North Carolina are without electricity
The hurricane caused widespread flooding and property damage throughout North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
Google drew
attention to its Hurricane Florence donation campaign with a banner that appeared on top of Gmail for some users
Google has matched donations for other disasters before, including Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey last year
It also raised money for humanitarian efforts crises, like a 2015 matching program for up to $5.5 million in donations to provide aid to
For that campaign, it temporarily added a &Donate& button to its search homepage.
The company is partnering with non-profit Network for God
to collect and distribute funds
All donations will be directed to the American Red Cross, which Google said it chose to work with &because of their strong track record and
existing response in the region.
Other tech companies helping with Hurricane Florence relief include Amazon, which enabled Alexa users to
make donations by saying &Alexa, donate to Hurricane Florence disaster relief& and sent trucks with food and donated items to affected
areas, and Apple, which donated $1 million to the American Red Cross
Airbnb also offered free rooms to people fleeing the hurricane.
