What You Can Do For Hurricane Victims
Now that Gustav has passed we are preparing for Hanna, Ike and Josephine. Yikes! I hope you are all forwarding links to the evacuation and providing refuge posts. As you can see they will be needed by friends and family in many states over just the next week and the hurricane season still has 3 months left to threaten. Yesterday I heard a reporter talking about Hanna affecting Washington DC. He also commented on the hurricanes in New York and New Jersey in the 1950s and 1960s. I’m sure many are not old enough to remember those and if you have friends who have moved to these areas they may be unaware. Hurricanes occurred along the northern Atlantic coast because the water temperature in the Atlantic had risen, just as it has again. So, please help me help them to be prepared.
Now, what can you do to help the victims of Gustav and maybe Hanna, Ike and Josephine? Of course you can donate to reputable relief organizations but if you want to do something to help that will make a difference immediately and into the future I have a few suggestions.
1. Some of you may travel to the affected areas with Church groups or relief agencies. Before you leave there are a few things to collect. Everyone will be cleaning up. They will all need some of the same things. They will need work gloves, masks, goggles, disinfectants (even just bleach), large heavy duty trash bags, sunscreen, insect repellent, hats, snacks and water. All of these items will be in very short supply in disaster areas, if they are available at all. After 9/11 we heard rescue workers and clean-up crews needed work gloves. We collected gloves and sent them to a fire station in New York. We found people were more than willing to help and we even had an amazing response from high school students. You don’t have to live close enough to a disaster area to help with these items. You can also send them to a Church and I am sure they will get them to families in need.
2. If you happen to live nearby an area that has seen real devastation you may want to consider delivering a folding chair or beach chair to each family. There is only so long you can work before you just need a few minutes of rest.
3. If you are going into help bring all your own supplies. Bring your own shovels, brooms, wheel barrows, chain saws, and food, as well as all the items listed in #1& 2 of this post. Remember there may not be power so always go with a full gas tank. Gas pumps do not work without power.
4. Often victims are forgotten once a new disaster occurs or time passes. This is a great time to help. We need to let people know that we have not forgotten. The devastating fires in southern California, almost 2 years ago, left thousands homeless. Many have still not been able to rebuild. Begin now to consider ways to help in a few months. One of the items that was very much appreciated by fire victims was a cook book. Sound crazy? Not really. I had a friend who lost her home to a fire and she told me one of the things she was most sad about was losing all her recipes. Collect money and arrange with a wholesale nursery to purchase a plant for the front yard or a great indoor plant for everyone in a neighborhood. If you belong to a quilting group, my other passion, make Thanksgiving table runners or wall hangings. Deliver a fruit basket or homemade breads to a neighborhood. Have some “I survived Gustav” t shirts made and deliver them. Use your imagination. Again, if you are not living close enough to deliver these things yourself, mail them to someone who is. The important thing to remember is: don’t forget.
What have others done for you after a disaster? What have you done in the past? Let us hear your ideas.
One thing that has stuck with me since Katrina is all of the children who lost comfort items and how desperate many parents were to find diapers. I use my church group to facilitate the donation of such items.
No kidding! Diapers are a huge..help. The only problem is if you are traveling very far they take up lots of room. If you have a truck or large vehicle diapers are really great!