About us

P.R.A.E.R. (Program to Relocate and Assist Environmental Refugees) 501c3 non-profit was founded in May 2008 in Colorado by Wade M. Norris. Its mission is to bring greater public awareness to the crisis of those being displaced from the places they have called home for many generations due to the threat of rising sea levels and natural disasters.

P.R.A.E.R. founder and environmental evangelist Wade Michael Norris, M. Div., began his mission after living through 2 hurricanes in his home state of North Carolina. After seeing the Cape Hatteras lighthouse moved, he wondered what was happening to the Asian and Pacific Islanders living on low lying islands who do not have industry or a way to relocate or raise substantial funds post a natural disaster.

In 2008 he began circulating a handwritten petition requesting that the Obama Administration approve a legal status or safe haven for islanders and those who are potentially displaced from their home due to an ecological disaster.

 

 

Shortly after the biblical floods Colorado in 2013, he partnered with the Inland Ocean Coalition in collaboration with Handmade in Colorado, where they co-hosted an annual festival in Boulder, Colorado from 2013 – 2019 to bring greater mainstream awareness to this important cause.

 

Once an issue that primarily affected island nations, the impact and tragic consequences are now affecting the U.S. on a massive scale – from wildfires on the west coast to floods and hurricanes on the east coast.

Today Wade is working with dynamic partners and organizations across both grassroots and mainstream issues to build a diverse international coalition in support of those affected by this across the globe. He is still working toward finding them a legal status for islanders and providing housing for displaced environmental refugees.