Hurricane Katrina caused massive loss of life and infrastructure damage, prompting changes in national disaster response. Progress over two decades improved preparedness systems across government, nonprofits, businesses, and communities. Recent floods and wildfires show that preparedness remains incomplete and requires collaborative action as storms intensify. Businesses can significantly boost resilience by applying core capabilities such as logistics and supply chains. Examples include FedEx creating emergency checklists and Abbott partnering with Feeding America and Direct Relief to preposition essential nutrition and healthcare products. Those partnerships have delivered rapid aid to hundreds of thousands and continue expanding with new partners like ALDI.
Twenty years ago this August, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. More than 1,300 lives were lost. It destroyed homes, displaced families, and overwhelmed many of the institutions that undergird civil society. It was also a wake-up call that reshaped how the country responds to natural disasters. Over the past two decades, we've made real progress. Government agencies, nonprofits, businesses, and community organizations have built stronger systems to prepare before disaster strikes.
One major lesson from the last two decades is that businesses can have an outsized impact on disaster preparedness when they do what they know best-whether that's logistics, supply chains, or other specialized services. FedEx, for example, used its logistics expertise to create emergency preparedness checklists that help small businesses build their own plans. Other companies are partnering with nonprofits to reinforce disaster response systems. Following Hurricane Katrina, Abbott partnered with Feeding America and Direct Relief to stock essential nutrition and healthcare products at food banks and clinics in high-risk areas.
Since 2006, these partnerships have delivered rapid aid to 700,000 people across the Gulf, the Southeast coasts, and other areas. We expect to help an additional 270,000 people this year-extending our support to nearly 1 million people. This model continues to grow. Feeding America is now working with new partners, including supermarket chain ALDI, to preposition shelf-stable food and emergency items for broader distribution.
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