Hunter Douglas has donated a total of $425,000 to two nonprofit organizations dedicated to the recovery of those affected by Hurricane Sandy; The New York Times Neediest Cases Hurricane Sandy Relief Effort and Team Rubicon. A portion of the funds were raised through the Hunter Douglas Hurricane Sandy Relief and Recovery Fund, to which the company made an initial contribution of $100,000 and, in addition, matched donations from its employees and independent fabricators dollar for dollar. In little more than two weeks, Hunter Douglas says it had received $162,500 in contributions.

“I am so proud of my colleagues throughout the U.S. and Canada who participated in this drive to aid those whose lives were devastated by Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath,” says Mark Hopkins, Hunter Douglas’s North America president and CEO. “Their compassion and generosity are exemplary and heartwarming.” The donations were recently presented to Desiree Dancy, vice president of the New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, and Team Rubicon’s cofounders, Jake Wood, president, and William McNulty, vice president at the Hunter Douglas headquarters in Pearl River, New York.  

The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund was established in 1911 when the paper’s publisher at the time, Adolph S. Ochs, established a plan to publish articles about the Hundred Neediest Cases in New York, collected from several of the city’s private welfare agencies. Soon other publishers adopted the idea that a newspaper could make a general appeal for the needy and help welfare agencies solicit funds. Since it began more than 100 years ago, the fund has raised more than $250 million.

Team Rubicon was found in 2010 by Iraq veterans Wood and McNulty with the goal of providing disaster relief between the moments a disaster occurs and point at which conventional aid can be applied. With the slogan “Bridge the Gap,” it applies the organizational and operational skills of military veterans for disaster relief. Following Hurricane Sandy, the organization deployed 1,000 veteran military volunteers in the tri-state area to assist in the response and recovery process, the organization’s largest effort to date.

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