Sept. 11, 2001 changed most of us. For Ann Lee, co-founder and CEO of the crisis response nonprofit organization CORE, it altered her entire career trajectory.
“I was in New York City on 9/11,” Lee explains. “Watching the two towers fall from the rooftop of my apartment shocked me out of the life I had been planning. I thought I was going to go to law school and join a firm and be a lawyer. But when the disaster happened, I thought, ‘Oh no, no, no. I have to do something.’”
Foregoing law school, she refocused her studies on international diplomacy. A year-long research program brought her to Haiti, where Lee, 45, quickly realized her calling was on-the-ground relief work, not sitting in an office hammering out policy. She stayed in Haiti six years and when the horrifying 7.0 earthquake struck near Port au Prince in January 2010, reportedly killing 220,000 people, injuring another 300,000 and leaving 1.5 million people homeless, Lee immediately joined the disaster relief efforts.
“I was already operational and integrated in the community and I spoke Creole and fluent French,” she explains.
Not long after, she met actor and activist Sean Penn, who had moved to Haiti to devote himself to helping with the rebuilding efforts. “I had a lot of skepticism about him at first,” Lee recalls. “When the earthquake hit, you saw all these people coming down to take pictures and then flying out and not really leaving anything substantive behind. So, I was just really frustrated and did not want to waste my time — and he picked up on that. We were not friends in the beginning,” she notes, reflecting on the initial misperception she had of him.
Penn eventually won Lee’s respect, she continues, by proving he was in it for the long haul. “Seeing that he was living on the displacement camp and running into each other constantly, I realized he was different. Quickly, from there, we became very close.”
“Experts were saying it would take 50 to 60 years to clear out the rubble,” Lee adds. “So Sean and I were like, ‘Well then we better get started.’ We took our shovels and did it by hand in some cases. In five years, the rubble was cleared.”
By 2012, Lee had left Haiti and was working with the U.N. and OFDA (Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance). Then, in 2016, Penn reached out, tapping her to co-found CORE with him. She jumped at the opportunity.
Since its inception, CORE, which stands for Community Organized Relief Effort, has provided active response to global disasters, which can be unique to the needs created by each crisis. In Ukraine, for example, CORE’s website details the organization’s efforts to provide temporary shelter, essential items and mental health services to refugees while reconstructing homes. In response to the 2022 flooding in Pakistan, CORE lists supporting local communities with medical aid, cash assistance, protective mosquito netting and access to food and clean water among its services. Once stopgaps for urgent, dangerous conditions are established, says Lee, CORE pivots to rebuilding and recovery by working hand-in-hand with local governments, businesses and other organizations.
Assessing damage on the road leading into Jérémie, capital of Haiti’s Grand’Anse Department, in the wake of the 2021 Haiti earthquake
Photos by Liam Storrings/CORE
“The way we work is to go down on the ground and bring materials that we know are needed — cash cards, tarping for roofs or immediate shelter options, hygiene kits, for example — but that’s just the opening process for us to start understanding and assessing what people then need the most. We feel strongly that we have to keep supporting these communities rather than just dump materials and walk away. So we’re very conscious about staying.”
With just under 300 people, Lee notes that CORE is not a massive organization, but with team leaders stationed around the world, additional help is readily accessible. “We’ve been in this space long enough, we know the partners we can call on for these deployments. We have a roster of people who have been working with us for quite a bit.”
Preparing against future disasters is also central to CORE’s mission. “We never leave a community without equipping them, empowering them with readiness and working locally with people who now have systems and relationships in place. I do think one of our greatest strengths is, not only hiring locally, but also leaving them with that capacity,” she says.
When Hurricane Ian devastated Southwest Florida on Sept. 29, 2022, CORE focused its relief efforts on Pine Island, part of Lee County, where over 5,000 homes were destroyed and nearly 30,000 damaged, as well as local retirement communities and elderly citizens living in mobile homes. “We started by tarping roofs when it was still raining,” says Lee. “We also jumped in with medical assessments, thanks to some doctors and nurses who volunteer with us regularly.”
CORE Co-founders Sean Penn and Ann Lee
Once the storm passed, CORE began clearing trees, repairing roofs, sourcing generators for refrigeration and reestablishing vital internet connectivity. It also partnered with Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization that provides meals to people in the wake of natural disasters and other global crises.
Less than a year later, in August 2023, Hurricane Idalia hit Northern Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas and, again, CORE was on the ground working with federal agencies to address sheltering, power restoration and other essential needs. “It’s great because we do a suite of activities. But it’s also why, when people ask, ‘What does CORE do?’, it’s sometimes hard to explain.”
CORE’s results often speak for themselves. In 2022, Penn received CNN’s prestigious Heroes Award on behalf of the group’s work. In addition to raising CORE’s profile, Penn’s celebrity also attracts generous financial support. Also in 2022, A-listers including Leonardo DiCaprio and Jared Leto raised over $1 million in donations at a star-studded fundraising event in Miami.
However, Lee emphasizes that smaller amounts also make a difference. “I really encourage people to quiet the voices that say, ‘Well, what can I do? I’m just one person. What’s these five dollars going to do?’ Just shut the voice up and do something. You don’t have to give to CORE, but do something in your community, something that will impact somebody. Start someplace. If we kept thinking, ‘Oh we’re just a small organization, who are we to do this?’ and not stepped into the ring, we would not have helped the lives of all the people that we have. One of the things I try to drive home to people is that when you do something for somebody else, it changes you in a fundamental, positive way.”
Given the gravity her job often entails and the distress she witnesses firsthand, it’s hard to imagine how Lee, who was raised in Los Angeles and currently resides there, maintains an optimistic attitude, not to mention mentally clocks off to rest and recharge. She’s able to do it, she explains, thanks to the capable team she and Penn have assembled. “They’re amazing,” Lee marvels. “Our team is so badass. Everyone is incredibly supportive of each other. We’ve got each other’s backs and we create space for each other as much as possible to have personal lives. Having an incredible network of coworkers is the number one thing that has gotten us through everything.”
The work is unquestionably challenging — yet equally rewarding. “When you think about it, the level of suffering and inequality and injustice we see can be overwhelming,” says Lee. “But in responding to a disaster, you see the most inspiring things, because you also see people doing the most miraculous things for each other. I never leave a disaster feeling pessimistic about humankind.”
