Last night southwest Louisiana was decimated by Hurricane Laura. Because we are Americans and because that's what Americans do, I fully expect that people around the country will be trying to help those people in the upcoming weeks, and that is a good thing. However, if you are one of those people, please discover and connect before you take action.
DISCOVER
Having lived through the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but having not seen more than random pictures of the Lake Charles area, I can tell you that a lot of people's homes were either badly damaged or destroyed. Businesses, many of which were hurting from the corona virus shutdowns, are now damaged or destroyed. While insurance will help many rebuild, since the storms of 2005, homeowners' policies have started carrying hurricane deductibles that are substantially higher than the deductibles people choose for other perils.
The power is out, and in some places will remain out for several weeks. That means no air conditioning, no lights, and no refrigerators, unless people have generators.
Hopefully most of the people most seriously affected are sitting in hotel rooms or shelters someplace safe. If they have homeowners' insurance, they will be paid some "ALE" additional living expenses, but many renters, particularly poor renters, don't carry similar coverage. The insured will be given money to replace the contents of their homes. Those without insurance may not only find themselves homeless, but also in need of replacing anything they didn't bring with them.
As soon as the weather clears the army of power company trucks that are staying in the New Orleans area (strange place to be "safe" during a hurricane) will head west. Emergency crews on the ground will start clearing debris from the roadways, starting with I-10, I-49 and US 90 and then moving on to major roads through towns. When people return to their homes they will clear fallen branches and trees from the yard, tarp their roofs if necessary and, if they flooded, proceed to throw away much of what they owned. They will remove water-soaked belongings and pull out sheetrock and carpet. The trash haulers will have lots of work for a while.
What all this means is that for the next week or so, many of those hurt the worst by this storm aren't going to be home. If there are shelters for hurricane evacuees in your town or if you see that the hotel that has been closed since March suddenly has a full parking lot and all the cars in it have Louisiana license plates, those are good places to focus your near-term attention. Also, having people come into the hurricane area who aren't capable of immediately contributing to the recovery effort is a nuisance, not a help. I can't use a chain saw, I don't own a truck or a boat, and even if I did, I don't know the area. I have no business going over there.
No one in that area is going to be working their regular job for at least a few days, except for emergency personnel. Rent will be due next week. That's going to be a problem for tenants, and if they aren't able to pay, for landlords.
Connect
The best way for most of us to help in a disaster is to "connect" with an organization that regularly does this sort of thing. The Red Cross, Catholic Charities, and The Salvation Army are all professionally run organizations that know what is needed and how to go about getting it there. I'm sure there are others, but unless it is an organization with which you were familiar a week ago, please check out any group before giving them a substantial donation. Unfortunately disasters also bring out scammers.You can also connect with people and organizations in the area. The affected Girl Scout council is Louisiana Pines to the Gulf.
If your church's denomination has churches in the area, connect with them. If you know someone, give them a call.
You connect to make sure that the need you have identified is real, and that there is someone who can use the help you want to provide when you want to provide it. It is easy to say it would be silly to hold a boot drive in North Dakota to send used snow boots and winter coats to Louisiana but most charitable organizations who accept donation items will tell you that they get a lot of useless items. Especially after a disaster, sending useless things is worse than sending nothing.
Take Action
Hopefully after learning about the situation and connecting with people or organizations in the area, you are ready to "take action". While Girl Scouts are not allowed to raise funds for other organizations, they are allowed to make donations, including, in most places, cash donations. In most cases, sending cash or general gift cards is the best thing to do. Shipping costs are low, and storage is easy as is distribution.If you must send "stuff", make sure whomever is getting it wants it and is ready to receive it. After Katrina tons of clothes shipped in from other places ended up in landfills. Why? Was it because people were ungrateful? No. Immediately after the storm, "no one" was in town. Those who could afford to do so hit the stores in whichever towns they were staying, and spent insurance money. Those who could not afford it probably got help from churches or similar organizations where they were staying. When people came home, either they were lucky and went to undamaged or minimally damaged homes, where they had their own stuff, or they went home to live in travel trailers for months to years, and they didn't have room from extra stuff--and yes, some people did send heavy winter coats which are only nice to have in Louisiana for a few days each winter.
Please keep the people of western Louisiana and eastern Texas in your prayers, and if you are going to take action to help them, do it right.
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