Hurricane Harvey - How You Can Help - Resources from BookGoodies

Published: Wed, 08/30/17


This is a football player in Houston that is already well known for his charity work. He has pledged to go out and purchase items that are needed by people and deliver them to not only people in Houston but Rockport and other hard hit areas. He is well respected and your money will go where he says it will. He seeded this with $100,000 of his own money - he isn't just asking for money from others.
JJ Watt https://www.youcaring.com/victimsofhurricaneharvey-915053 

This one is a group of horse lovers in Chandler Arizona and Queen Creek Arizona that are gathering feed and supplies, donations for gas and to purchase other supplies, that they are going to personally drive to Texas and deliver to farms and areas they know that the Red Cross and other organizations aren't serving.
Hurricane Harvey Animals https://www.gofundme.com/hurricaneharveyanimals

This on is obvious:
Texas Baby Bank http://www.texasdiaperbank.org/ ​​​​​​​

The following organizations showed up and dived in and helped with food, donations directly to people and with hands to help us clean out our house. They were there before the Red Cross and did more for people than any government agency did and without "paperwork" or asking for anything in return.
Operation BBQ Relief https://operationbbqrelief.org 
Rapid Hope https://www.rapidhope.us 
Team Rubicon https://teamrubiconusa.org/ 
TZU Chi http://www.tzuchi.us/ 

When you have spent days throwing out your family photographs, heirlooms, your furniture, your books and everything that was once part of your daily existence and you can't take it any more and then a group of young people walk up the street and say "What do you need" and you can let them take out the refrigerator that fell over that you didn't know how you were going to move and the washer and dryer you worked hard to buy needed to be put out and you didn't have the strength left to move you don't care what religion they are and they are just there to help you are eternally grateful.
Mormon Helping Hands https://www.facebook.com/MormonHelpingHandz/

For us a group of people created a campaign similar to what GoFundMe is now and people all over the world sent us money directly through PayPal. We used that money to rent a car and go out once the roads were open and get supplies and even simply a fast food dinner for our neighbors. We used it to make the deposits to rent a place to live and rent a car to drive me and my cats and what little I had left cross country from NYC to Arizona where my daughter found me a place to live. If you know a family directly don't even ask, they might be too proud and don't have a clue what their expenses are going to be that they have to cover up front that they might think are going to reimbursed that won't be. Find out if they have a PayPal and just donate directly to them. Watch for scammers and make it people you or someone you know has a personal connection to. 

People from other areas of NYC in the weeks following when we still didn't have power just showed up and opened the backs of their cars that were loaded with fruits and vegetables, paper towels and toilet paper - things we couldn't get out to stores to get. Things that the stores around us didn't have. 

Remember that it isn't just this week or today that the people and animals need your help. It is tomorrow, next week and next month. 

While I am not going to slam the "big" organizations - I want people to know that the Red Cross, FEMA and the insurance companies didn't do what you think they do and Housotn and surrounding areas need help from people to get back on their feet. People help people.

I hope this helps some of you decide how you can help if you have been looking for a way to cut through the noise and find the real helpers. Please feel free to share these links, this newsletter and this information with anyone you think would be interested.

Sincerely,
Deborah Carney
BookGoodies.com