By Barb Arland-Fye
Editorial
A diocesan staffer received a phone call from someone wondering what the Davenport Diocese is doing to assist the victims of Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 storm that struck Sept. 26 and caused immeasurable suffering across the southeastern U.S. The death toll has exceeded 200 and many people are still missing. Affected communities are in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia.
The staffer referred the caller to Catholic Charities USA (catholiccharitiesusa.org), whose network of local Catholic Charities agencies are best equipped to respond to people’s immense needs. A financial contribution to Catholic Charities is our best possible response to helping our brothers and sisters in desperate need. The direct link to the donation site is (https://tinyurl.com/5az8ethb).
For many victims, the aftermath will be a protracted experience. “We’re facing weeks, possibly months without water. How do you prepare for that? How do you run a household for months with no water? We’re overwhelmed with the longevity of this crisis,” OSV News quoted a North Carolina Catholic school principal on Oct. 4. Now, at press time, Florida is bracing for Hurricane Milton.
Following a disaster, we are all anxious to help those who have lost so much. Often, the first thought is to send material goods, such as clothing or toys for the children, said Glenn Leach, a volunteer with the diocese’s Social Action and Immigration offices. However, such donations create problems because they take first-responders and disaster relief workers away from the work they need to concentrate on: cleanup and restoration.
“The best help is dollar donations to national organizations that have local representation in the various communities affected by the disaster. In major disasters, these organizations work together through established channels to assure that the specific needs of a particular community are met,” Leach said. “These organizations convert dollar donations to everything from emergency shelters, food and water to clean up and supplies and labor for rebuilding.”
Catholic Charities USA is among the best, serving as the official domestic relief agency of the U.S. Catholic Church to provide immediate humanitarian support and long-term aid to communities devastated by natural and human-made disasters. You can support the work of local Catholic Charities agencies that are already on the ground responding in affected communities.
There are other ways to help, as well, through such organizations as the Red Cross (https://tinyurl.com/4v545pn9) and Salvation Army (https://tinyurl.com/2s4avrf2). Like Catholic Charities, they are members of the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD), which partners with religious and secular disaster relief organizations.
Each state has a counterpart organization; in Iowa, it is the Iowa Disaster Human Resource Council (iowavoad.org), which works with county emergency managers to coordinate disaster response and planning to mitigate them. NVOAD members and partners are assisting communities in need of assistance because of Hurricane Helene, Leach said. To learn how you can support response and recovery efforts, please visit the National VOAD Hurricane Response page (nvoad.org/hurricane-helene-response).
Advocacy is another way to assist. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) notes in an e-news blast that severe weather events are disproportionately affecting communities experiencing poverty and vulnerability. “The U.S. government must take bold action by advancing in global leadership on climate policies and commitments that will help communities around the world recover, adapt and build resilience for the future” (https://tinyurl.com/2x5mhsr3).
A final way to respond? Be aware of rumors and scams related to Hurricane Helene by finding and sharing official information from trusted resources, such as FEMA (https://tinyurl.com/mtu8ff79). Discourage others from sharing information from unverified sources.
St. Paul tells us that if one part of the body suffers, all the parts suffer with it (1 Cor. 12:26). Let us respond to our brothers and sisters in need, with compassion, prayers, advocacy and a donation to Catholic Charities, the Red Cross and Salvation Army.
Barb Arland-Fye, Editor
arland-fye@davenportdiocese.org
