Editorial: How Brooklyn can help Harvey’s victims

Many of us in Brooklyn probably relived the destruction Hurricane Sandy wrought here five years ago in witnessing the heartbreaking images coming out of Texas the past few days during and after Hurricane Harvey.

This October marks five years since Brooklyn and the rest of New York City suffered Sandy’s wrath. Low-lying areas of our borough didn’t stand a chance, and the damage they faced was so extraordinary that some residents — all these years later — have yet to recover fully.

How long will it take the people of Texas to recover from Harvey, a storm that dumped biblical amounts of rain that caused every river, creek and bayou in the area to overflow their banks?

Entire communities in the Houston area have been wiped out; the scenes of flooded streets and highways are almost beyond our imagination. The recovery will be too long to bear, but we can all lighten the burden a bit by doing our part to help Texans rebuild.

We encourage our readers to donate cash to a reputable charity such as the Greater Houston Community Foundation or the United Way (where you can also text UWFLOOD to 41444 to make a donation).

That money will be used immediately to help purchase supplies and equipment needed to rescue, shelter, feed and care for the flood victims.

In addition, American Red Cross is accepting donations online (redcross.org/donate/hurricane-harvey or text the word “Harvey” to 909999 to make a $10 donation), as is Catholic Charities Brooklyn & Queens, which is directing donations to Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston (catholiccharities.org). In addition, checks made payable to Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston can be sent to Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, 2900 Louisiana Street, Houston, Texas 77006.

Also, monetary donations to food banks in Galveston, Corpus Christi and Houston can be made to galvestoncountyfoodbank.org,foodbankcc.com or houstonfoodbank.org, and pet lovers can help pets impacted by Harvey through Austin Pets Alive (austinpetsalive.org) or Animal Rescue New Orleans (animalrescueneworleans.org).

Cash donations are the fastest, most impactful way Brooklyn residents can help our fellow citizens in the Lone Star State. Let’s give what we can and make it count.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.