Heart to Heart responds to people affected by Oklahoma ice storms

OLATHE, Kan./January 16, 2007 — Heart to Heart International Inc., a leading humanitarian organization, today announced that it is responding to people affected by recent ice storms in Oklahoma. The relief group is sending a truckload of supplies to the rural community of McAlester, home to nearly 15,000 residents that is expected to be without electricity for the next two weeks.

Heart to Heart is sending blankets and hygiene products this afternoon.

“We are simply helping our neighbors in need,” said Jeff DeGraffenreid, Heart to Heart’s vice president for Global Crisis Response. “This is our initial response and will likely be followed by additional shipments of targeted aid, as needed.”

The aid is being sent from Heart to Heart’s forward response center in Kansas City—the third relief effort from the organization’s newly formed network of deployment sites that were established in partnership with FedEx. The organization has recently responded to disaster victims in the Philippines following Typhoon Durian and in the African nation of Chad following the migration of refugees from neighboring Sudan.