“Just because it left the headlines doesn’t mean it left the planet”. That’s the motto of Aid Still Required (ASR), a non-profit organization that brings attention back to those forgotten areas hit by natural disaster or human crisis after the global attention fades away.

Co-founders Andrea and Hunter Payne call themselves “second responders.”

“The idea of being a ‘second responder’ is: we wait about a year, and then we go in and we see what communities have been left out,” Hunter said.

Aid Still Required: Taking on forgotten causes

ASR brings hope and healing to forgotten areas around the world through its extensive outreach campaigns.

ASR helps some of the most neglected communities in the world after the immediate aid relief and media attention have gone away. Its awareness campaigns have reached more than 600 million people worldwide through social media and major television, radio and print media.

“Because we are small, we couldn’t bring in a team of people, so we had to, and it was our privilege, to work with the local communities,” explained Andrea. “They know their communities better than we do.”

Andrea and Hunter Payne of Aid Still Required joined May Lee in our Los Angeles studio to tell us more about their work.