On August 11, 2026, a devastating storm hit Gary, Indiana, leaving families, businesses, and community organizations without power and facing unexpected hardship.

We Are The Village Inc. was impacted too.

Our organization provides childcare, autism services, family support, and community resources to children and families throughout Gary. Due to the prolonged power outage, our operations have been disrupted, our doors have remained closed, and our employees have gone without their regular work and wages.

But even while our own organization was struggling, we could not sit back and watch our community struggle.

We Are The Village stepped up.

In the days following the storm, our team went into the community to provide hundreds of meals, baby food, supplies, and direct assistance to Gary residents. We encountered families and elderly residents who were still without basic necessities. We saw trees and power lines still down in neighborhoods where children live and play.

Now, we are asking our Village to help us recover too.

We are raising $25,000 in emergency disaster recovery funds to help We Are The Village stabilize our organization, support our employees, reopen our programs, and continue serving families throughout Gary.

Funds raised will help with:

• Emergency payroll assistance for employees who lost work because of the closure

• Essential operating expenses accumulated while our programs were unable to operate

• Recovery and reopening expenses

• Replacement of food, supplies, and other items lost or affected during the outage

• Continued community relief efforts for Gary families impacted by the storm

Our employees are more than staff. They are childcare professionals, caregivers, RBTs, community members, mothers, fathers, and people with families depending on them.

We have spent years building an organization centered around the belief that it takes a village. During this disaster, we showed up for our city because that is what a Village does.

Now we are asking our community, businesses, organizations, and supporters near and far to stand with us.

Every donation, whether $10, $50, $100, $500 or more, helps us move closer to reopening, supporting our team, and continuing the work our community depends on.

If you cannot donate, please share our fundraiser.

We spent this disaster taking care of Gary. Now we need our Village to help us recover.