PLEASE, don't just send "stuff" in your effort to help disaster victims!!

THE WRONG DONATIONS -- SOME TOUGH WORDS ON DISASTER RELIEF:

Please, please continue to love us. There are no words to express how much your encouragement means to us. But please, please think before donating. If you come for rescue operations or donation drops, don’t just show up and wander aimlessly looking for something to do. Connect with FEMA and other local aid groups for instructions ahead of time. Vigilante helpers just are not helping, as beautiful as your hearts are. Having a plan or contact will help you and us!

Don’t empty your drawers and bureaus randomly into a bag. Go to sites like Aviators Helping South Texas or FEMA or Will Metcalf’s page and peruse the lists and find out what we really need. Donate financially to local nonprofits so they can buy what they actually need for recovery. Look, even if it’s 2$ it adds up. That gift is just as precious and needed as someone else’s $100. It’s about heart not amount. Supply gift cards to evacuees or those distributing to evacuees so they can buy what they really need. Keep in mind our seasonal situations, hazard situations, landfill situations when donating items. Think about things we need today to get through this right now (cleaning supplies, black garbage bags, work gloves), not things we might need next month or year (prom dresses). Today is all that we can comprehend right now…barely.

When donating items on the lists, please ask yourself if you or someone you loved was in our situation, is this what you would want someone to give to you? When purchasing gift cards, make sure they are VISAS or are to places we actually have down here in our areas. WaWa cards do us little good in Texas.

I am begging you to think before you donate.

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