Recovering Better: How United Way is Helping Brazil’s Communities Rebuild

When the rains began, no one imagined they’d last for weeks. Rivers surged, dams failed, and the capital city of Porto Alegre flooded for the first time in its history. Over 2.3 million people were affected. More than 500,000 were forced to leave their homes even as roads disappeared under floodwaters and the Salgado Filho International Airport shut down.  

In a region inaccessible by road or air, United Way Brazil did what it does best: partnered with people on the ground and mobilized resources to meet the moment.

Phase 1: Meeting Urgent Needs

In the first days after the disaster, survivors needed water, food, and cleaning supplies. Most had no refrigeration or cooking equipment, so donations had to be practical, ready-to-eat meals, bottled water, and basic hygiene kits.

United Way focused on mobilizing corporate donors to give money, not goods, so that local partners could purchase materials close to the affected areas. Some longstanding partners, like Procter & Gamble, contributed laundry products, and others, like FedEx, helped route supplies to almost inaccessible communities.

Clothing and supplies mattered, but we knew from the beginning: what people needed most was flexibility. That’s why financial support was key.

- Raquel Bauer, Institutional Relations, Communications and Fundraising Manager at United Way Brazil

One standout partnership came from Ernst and Young, which not only matched employee donations but also activated its entire supply chain to support the response. It was a first for United Way Brasil, and it showed what’s possible when corporate solidarity meets community need.

Phase 2: Protecting Childhood

As the waters receded, a more complicated truth emerged: children were among the hardest hit. Every toy, every book, every playground was gone. Raquel and her team began to ask an important question: “How do we protect childhood when everything familiar has been washed away?”  

How do we protect childhood when everything familiar has been washed away?”  

That question shaped Phase 2. United Way, alongside local partners, launched a program to restore safe spaces for play, train early childhood educators, and build environments where babies and toddlers could feel secure again.

They delivered individual and collective play kits to five municipalities and trained more than 80 professionals through the Primeira Infância Melhor program. In places like Canoas and Novo Hamburgo, new play spaces created a sense of normalcy and provided trained educators with the tools to support their healing.

“We weren’t just responding to a flood,” Raquel said. “We were investing in a future where communities are prepared to care for children through any crisis.”

Building Something Better

United Way Brazil is developing a playbook that centers on the emotional and developmental needs of children in future emergencies. It’s a shift from response to resilience, which puts children and youth at the center of every recovery.

With United Way Brazil, communities are learning how to protect what matters most, long after the floodwaters recede.