Texas Hurricane

Two Baton Rouge tv stations have good web sites that have places to donate.WBRZ and WAFB.com. Red Cross is a very bad joke. We learned that last year. There are food banks, Salvation Army is probably pretty good, and Cajun Navy could use the help. These guys do everything out of pocket; food, fuel, lodging etc. If monetary is not feasible, prayer is inexpensive and effective. Whatever you choose to do, you will never know how much it is appreciated. I'm sure 99% of the people would love to thank you in person, it just logistically can't be done. Please know that we all appreciate it immensely.
Thanks!!!
Mike

Two Baton Rouge tv stations have good web sites that have places to donate.WBRZ and WAFB.com. Red Cross is a very bad joke. We learned that last year. There are food banks, Salvation Army is probably pretty good, and Cajun Navy could use the help. These guys do everything out of pocket; food, fuel, lodging etc. If monetary is not feasible, prayer is inexpensive and effective. Whatever you choose to do, you will never know how much it is appreciated. I'm sure 99% of the people would love to thank you in person, it just logistically can't be done. Please know that we all appreciate it immensely.
Thanks!!!
Mike

SORRY for the double post. Couldn't find a delete button.

Some of you were kind enough to ask about donations to the Texas flood relief effort. Once the initial rescue efforts are complete, the Cajun Army kicks in.
Any money donated goes 100% to the people affected. One place you can donate to is Servanthood Fellowship Church 14320 FM1488 Magnolia, TX 77354.
Gift cards can be sent to The Cajun Army C/O Next Level Solutions 10723 N. Oak
Parkway, Bldg A, Baton Rouge, LA. 70810
If you would like more assurance as to the authenticity of this info, which I would totally understand, try Lacajunarmy or lacajunnavy on facebook. There is also something on Zello, which I don't totally understand right now but will learn.
Whatever you can send will be used frugally and for the direct benefit of the people that actually need it
Thanks everyone!!!!

I donated to Good Samaritan today. Fine place to donate without the CEO taking most of the money.

I wish I was able to go to help. Not sure what I could do at this point in time.
Any RV groups or RVers headed that way?

My initial reaction was to hitch up my 14' fishing boat and head down there (24+ hrs travel time). It soon occurred to me that there are local boaters and the Cajun Navy that are equipped, local, possibly trained, and have more experience than I have. I might have been a drain on valuable resources.

I am still considering loading my tools and heading down for the recovery effort. I have a lot of experience in construction and some experience with mold mitigation. I am going to make more inquiries before a decision is made. There will be plenty of time for all that.

FWIW, I lived in Bellaire for a year and worked out of Houston for about 6 yrs. My first year in Houston was spent in underground construction, subcontracted to Southwestern Bell. There will be a loooong time until everything is dried out and water is at typical levels.

Tonight, I found this webpage that has contact information for those wanting to donate resources for the disaster recovery. Most organizations are local so information should be pertinent: Texas Tribune--Hurricane Harvey Relief

Not sure it's already been posted here, but if you frequent Camping World they are collecting clothing. Also if you donate $10 they will match it, with the proceeds going to the Red Cross to help in the relief efforts.

Over the years of helping with several hurricane, tornado, spring floods disasters in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, etc I've learned the very best thing a person could do is donate money.

As an example. A person might thing going to the store and buying $30 of bottled water to donate to a charity organization would be helpful. It is. The person might get six or seven cases of water.

However donating the same $30 to the Red Cross is going to get approx 18-20 cases of water for the relief efforts.

Major companies sell clothes, food and construction components to relief organizations at the cost of transportation. A company like Walmart can sell 20 truckloads of bottled water to the Red Cross - and 'make' more money for their yearly net-profit on the tax writeoff than they would on selling 20 truckloads to people to give to the Red Cross.

Gifts of not needed items like clothes are seldom useful for disaster victims. They need to be sorted, cleaned/washed, stored, transported, etc. Most such donations actually end up in local thrift stores near the donation point. Money from the sales of the items is used to buy new items from major companies like Target, etc.

You would be surprised how many people want to donate used underwear, and want the receiving organization to give a receipt for the full current new value of the clothes.

The issue with donating non-perishable food is (1) organizations have to spend a lot of manpower to hand sort the food and are required to discard any out of date items; (2) transportation is expensive, including costs to pack the food.

Please consider cash donations rather than left-overs.

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
Over the years of helping with several hurricane, tornado, spring floods disasters in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, etc I've learned the very best thing a person could do is donate money.

As an example. A person might thing going to the store and buying $30 of bottled water to donate to a charity organization would be helpful. It is. The person might get six or seven cases of water.

However donating the same $30 to the Red Cross is going to get approx 18-20 cases of water for the relief efforts.

Major companies sell clothes, food and construction components to relief organizations at the cost of transportation. A company like Walmart can sell 20 truckloads of bottled water to the Red Cross - and 'make' more money for their yearly net-profit on the tax writeoff than they would on selling 20 truckloads to people to give to the Red Cross.

Gifts of not needed items like clothes are seldom useful for disaster victims. They need to be sorted, cleaned/washed, stored, transported, etc. Most such donations actually end up in local thrift stores near the donation point. Money from the sales of the items is used to buy new items from major companies like Target, etc.

You would be surprised how many people want to donate used underwear, and want the receiving organization to give a receipt for the full current new value of the clothes.

The issue with donating non-perishable food is (1) organizations have to spend a lot of manpower to hand sort the food and are required to discard any out of date items; (2) transportation is expensive, including costs to pack the food.

Please consider cash donations rather than left-overs.

Thanks for the information. I too believe that a financial donation would be of more benefit. Items donated and delivered may be in excess of what is actually needed as well as the cost of shipping will eat up funds from donations. Thanks again for sharing.

jplante4 wrote:
Donate to the Red Cross. Camping World is matching donations. I'm sure there are other organizations doing same.

What not to do - change your Facebook profile pic to a Texas flag lol.

The Red Cross is doing an exceptional job.... You can donate in general or you can specify Hurricane Harvey to route your dollars to a specific location.