Brother’s Brother Foundation in North Side helping areas affected by Midwest tornadoes

NORTH SIDE — Brother’s Brother Foundation in the city’s North Side is stepping up to help those impacted by the tornadoes, and the foundation president said this is one of their biggest disaster responses in years.

Over the weekend, deadly tornadoes that tore through several states caused devastation and destruction in Kentucky, Illinois, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Mississippi.

The foundation is now sending immediate relief by helping three food banks in the affected areas.

“Two of them are in Kentucky and one is towards Arkansas. The first thing that we do whenever there is a disaster of this sort is provide financial aid,” said Ozzy Samad, the president of Brother’s Brother Foundation.

The foundation also plans to send a bunch of supplies such as tarps, hard hats, medical supplies, and cleaning products. They also plan to ship personal protective equipment for first responders as the omicron variant continues to spread.

“It’s critical for us to send it so the first responders are risking their own lives and trying to help others are protected,” said Samad.

The foundation’s president said this is the first major response they’ve had in a while.

“The last time it was anything of this scale, probably larger, actually was 2017 when we had hurricanes in Puerto Rico, off the Texas coast, Florida and so on,” said Samad.

The foundation expects to send truckloads of supplies in the next few days and will also send food if it’s requested.

“We are evaluating where they are needed because it has been a substantial response and we want to make sure our response doesn’t overlap or even get in the way,” said Samad.

The foundation anticipates the need for relief will continue for several months so anyone who wants to donate money or medical items can do so via the following link: https://brothersbrother.org/

Eight tornadoes confirmed in Western Pa.