Community Updates

Target Pledges Up to $1 Million to Support Hurricane Irma Relief Efforts for Our Team and Communities

As communities across Florida and the southeastern U.S. begin to pick up the pieces after Hurricane Irma’s devastating impact over the weekend, Target is committing up to $1 million in cash and in-kind donations to help with recovery efforts. This donation will benefit our team members, as well as national, local and international relief organizations, in addition to the $3.5 million we pledged last week to Hurricane Harvey relief.

Published 7 years ago | About a 3 minute read

“In the wake of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, I have been moved by the remarkable outpouring of support and commitment from people around the country. While we’re in the earliest stages of relief along the Gulf Coast and southeastern United States, we’ll stand with our Target team and be there to support the community on the long road to recovery,” said CEO and chairman Brian Cornell. “Similar to Hurricane Harvey, we know that providing the financial resources and products that families need is the greatest impact Target can make. Target today is proud to commit up to $1 million to be there for our team, guests and communities through this difficult time.”

Just as we did after Hurricane Harvey, we’re taking care of our impacted team members and their families, and making sure they have the resources they need. We set up a disaster relief fund last week with non-profit Global Impact to support them, and we’ll continue matching employee donations dollar-for-dollar up to $1 million toward both Harvey and Irma relief. For team members working at stores that are currently closed, Target will offer team members shifts at neighboring Target stores and to pay eligible team members while locations are closed.

Meanwhile, our pledge of up to $1 million will go to support several relief organizations including:

Up to $500,000 for the American Red Cross, including $250,000 in cash and in-kind product donations, and up to $250,000 to match guests donations to the Red Cross. (Here’s where to donate.)
$100,000 for Habitat for Humanity to help rebuild homes across the southeast.
$300,000 to national local relief organizations, including The Salvation Army, for supplies and essentials like water, food and baby products.
$50,000 each to UNICEF and Save The Children to help international communities.

We know guests are looking forward to stopping back into their favorite Target stores, and it won’t be long until doors are open again. In the days leading up to Hurricane Irma’s U.S. landfall, we closed more than 120 stores and four distribution facilities for the safety of our team and guests. They’re reopening on a case-by-case basis as quickly as possible, as soon as it’s safe to do so. (View the latest closure list here).

As always, helping guests get the supplies they need is a top priority. Before the storm hit, our distribution teams worked tirelessly to get products to stores as quickly as possible, shipping nearly 3 million bottles of water, 45,000+ packages of batteries and nearly 20,000 flashlights. And there’s more on the way: When our facilities reopen later this week, teams will immediately begin pushing products to impacted stores, including some trailers they pre-loaded before the hurricane.

The efforts are part of Target’s long legacy of supporting our team and communities before, during and after disasters. Learn more about how we support the communities where we do business every day.