With the flooding and destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey over the past week, I don’t feel right doing a usual Friday Five post. Instead, I’m going to list five things you can do to help people affected by the hurricane.
1. Donate money to a food bank: Houston Food Bank, Galveston Food Bank, Corpus Christi Food Bank, and more will all need help.
2. Donate money to the Harvey relief fund established by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner at The Greater Houston Community Foundation.
3. Donate money or send diapers to the Texas Diaper Bank. Diapers can be dropped off at 5415 Bandera Road, Suite 504, San Antonio, Texas, 78238…or you can order them through the organization’s Amazon wish list and have them shipped there.
4. Donate money to the SPCA of Texas to help the organization help pets that have been affected by the storm. My local animal shelter, Humane Rescue Alliance, is urging people to adopt animals so they can free up room to take in animals that have been displaced. HRA board member Erica May-Scherzer and Washington Nationals All-Star pitcher Max Scherzer are covering all adoption fees through September 3 to help clear space in the shelter! I imagine other shelters around the country are also trying to clear out room so they can help, so if you’ve been considering adopting a pet from a shelter, this might be the right time to do so.
5. Donate money to Global Giving, which has a goal of raising $2 million for Harvey relief. As of this post, they’ve already raised more than $1.8 million! Funds will be used for emergency supplies for immediate relief—food, water, hygiene products, etc.—and for long-term recovery efforts.
NPR and the New York Times have more information on these and other ways to help (and the NYT has tips on how to avoid scams)!
