SEATTLE, Washington — Among all of her other titles as a television personality, author and entrepreneur, Bethenny Frankel has added humanitarian to her list in December 2016. Within the past few years, when tragedy strikes, she goes out to the places in need to encourage people to be strong with the help of her BStrong foundation.
What BStrong Does
BStrong is a foundation that focuses on global disaster relief. When disaster strikes a certain area, BStrong Foundation provides emergency assistance to all those in crisis with aid such as gift cards, bank cards and necessary supplies. The foundation was initially a partnership that Frankel garnered with Dress for Success for women in crisis. The focus of BStrong shifted in 2017 when Hurricane Irma touched down in Houston, Texas. Frankel felt compelled to help out, so she rallied together all the people and resources she could and provided relief to Houston.
Not too long after Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. Once again, Frankel found herself rallying to provide aid for the victims of that natural disaster. With the two hurricanes combined, BStrong provided 55 planes of aid to both Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria victims. In the first week alone of its efforts in Texas, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Florida, BStrong raised more than $1 million in cash and donations for disaster relief.
How BStrong Works
The aid that BStrong provides comes from monetary donations given on Frankel’s website as well as Frankel herself buying supplies from Costco. Aid is also provided from organizations such as Feeding America, City Harvest, Delivering Good and Guardians of Rescue, which donates necessities such as food and toiletries.
Frankel her partnered with the nonprofit organization Global Empowerment Mission to charter private planes that get the supplies to the affected areas. The warehouses that hold all the supplies are provided by friends and colleagues who cooperate with her by lending BStrong the space needed to house all of the supplies.
The Impact of BStrong
Since the beginning, BStrong has distributed aid to several areas that were struck by disasters, including Guatemala, California, U.S. Virgin Islands, Dominica, Hawaii, North Carolina and St. Maarten. As of 2018, just in her partnership with Delivering Good alone, Frankel and BStrong distributed a total of $1,129,5370 to areas affected by disasters and helped a total of 6,308 people. Most recently Frankel’s BStrong provided relief to the Bahamas, which was struck by the category 5 Hurricane Dorian.
On Labor Day 2019, Frankel got on a plane and flew to the Bahamas to assess and document how bad the conditions of the Bahamas were in order to prompt people to donate to the charity. At the same time, her BStrong team searched Frankel’s relief-focused warehouse in Miami to get all the aid packages that would need to be shipped to the Bahamas. After speaking with the victims in the Bahamas, Frankel assed the most important aid provided should include cash cards, first aid kits, feminine hygiene products, generators, diapers and water.
Frankel’s philanthropy efforts with BStrong Foundation shine a light on the disasters that occur throughout the world. BStrong also helps the victims affected by the tragedies by acknowledging the crisis at hand, providing much-needed assistance and encouraging the people to, indeed, be strong.
– Cydni Payton
Photo: Flickr