Hayden Couvillion’s Post

Through trusted intermediary partners, Dogwood Health Trust partnered with GiveDirectly to provide direct cash transfers to over 2,000 SNAP-eligible families in Western North Carolina. The program design was unique. 1,462 families received $1,000 in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene in the fall of 2024. Another 639 families received $2,200 nine months later in the summer of 2025. Our strategy, much like the Maui Fire response shared in the The Chronicle of Philanthropy article below, focused not only on immediate relief, but also longer-term recovery. In partnership with GiveDirectly, Leah Hamilton and Lila Stith at Appalachian State University Family Economic Policy Lab, evaluated the differential impacts of these cash transfers. We wanted to understand how these cash transfers were used and how they impacted individuals in our communities. Here is what the Appalachian State evaluation team found: - Folks had complete choice in how they used their transfer, and that choice enabled individuals to make decisions that were best for them. Individuals in the first cohort of payments most often used their dollars for “life-saving emergency aid” (hotel rooms, clothing, medications). While the second cohort used their transfers for “stabilizing” needs (paying bills, making home repairs, and buying school supplies).    - Researchers note a deep sense of community care in the findings. Some participants used a portion of their cash transfer to care for their neighbors or to give back to community organizations that cared for them in the aftermath of the storm.     - Cash provides opportunity. Appalachian State found modest, but meaningful, improvements in housing quality and food security. At the same time, evaluators found small gains in well-being with perceived levels of stress unchanged. Unconditional cash transfers can complement traditional disaster relief by providing individuals choice -- resulting in real, but realistically bounded relief in a moment its needed most. Full research and Chronicle article below in the comments.