Privileged to Help

by The Sassy Texan
Texas, USA

I want everyone to know how my small town reacted to help Hurricane Katrina survivors. We’re an hour outside Houston and three hours from Louisiana. When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in September 2005, we had no idea how it would affect our community.

When Katrina hit, we sprang into action. Blood, food, and clothing drives and fundraisers… all for people we’d never meet. Or so we thought.

Wednesday evening, evacuees began to arrive. Hundreds of people arrived daily with absolutely nothing. They spent everything they had getting here. Many stopped simply because their gas tank was empty.

Emails flew with assistance offers and volunteer opportunities. Our town’s fire department became the command center for all relief efforts. Thursday afternoon, I called. Ten minutes later, I walked into the heart of our relief effort.

In two days, we helped several hundred people. Ninety percent needed money, food, clothing, household supplies, toiletries, medicine, jobs, gas, shelter, and help with pets. Yet their most devastating need was contacting people who stayed behind — they assumed close friends and family had died.

Volunteers gathered a resource packet for the family based on the evacuees’ intake forms. We explained how to meet immediate needs for clothes, food, and gas. Our distribution center was close enough that I could walk people outside and show them the building. They were relieved and hopeful for the first time in days.

We also had people who had been sick or injured pre-hurricane who needed medical attention: pregnant women, newborns, and people in the lowest depths of depression. Our shelters needed hospital beds and always more cots.

The hardest part for me was the older men who broke down as they asked for help. I always explained that we’re neighbors, and this is what neighbors do. They would do the same for us, and may have to one day.

Churches became shelters and established meal rotations to feed hundreds. The college allowed evacuees to late-register at in-state tuition rates and considered scholarships. Bureaucracies turned out to have hearts inside.

Individuals distributed supplies and offered homes. Local schools enrolled hundreds of students. The high school held a kids’ event with gifts, games, Snocones, and hot dogs. It may sound trivial, but those kids needed to be kids, if only for moments.

The first night, I spent hours entering names and needs into the database. I nearly cried over the extent of the need — so many lacking so much. Then I picked up the intake form of an elderly couple. Like everyone else, they needed everything you and I take for granted. But in the margin, she added, “We will pray for everyone and help any way we can.” These people with nothing offered their help.

I’d have invited these people to join our community permanently, but most just wanted to go home. I’m proud to have met such amazingly strong people. They added a lot to our community, if only temporarily. I’m glad so many in our town stepped up to help, but we were completely humbled by the courage and generous spirit of our guests.

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