|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
When Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston, there was essentially no FEMA. We dug, cut, slogged and shared our way through it. The only out-of-town volunteers I ever saw were linemen — from all over the nation. I’m quite certain there were thousands of volunteers who arrived, but I never saw them. No one I know ever saw one.
Right now, as it was after Hugo, everyone in that entire region is in desperate shape. Rich, poor, and middle-class people have lost everything. And believe it or not, if you have insurance, losing everything might not be as bad as the alternative. The house next to my parents on Isle of Palms was gone. Flat. My parents’ house, on the other hand, was 40 percent wrecked.
I was there when that neighbor arrived, and he put his hands on his hips and said, “Well, it’s in the hands of Big Insurance now.” He left, and that was that. There was nothing for him to do but file a massive claim for everything he owned. He caught the ferry back to Mount Pleasant and found a place for his family to live inland.
We can only prayer those whose homes are gone/gone will evacuate and find a place to live elsewhere until some semblance of civilization returns. If they have the means, we can pray they’ll find a place to live locally, and volunteer to help others.
***
Those who have homes and property that’s badly damaged — but not a total loss — have brutal months ahead. It will be impossible for them to find a builder for months, because people all over the region will be throwing money at builders and tradesmen who move to town. As a result, they themselves will need to tarp and dry in their homes. Board up shattered windows. Go through their entire home and document everything that’s ruined. Triple bag the rotting food in the refrigerator and freezer. Cut up the trees on their property. Drag the branches to the street. Get the soaked furniture out, as it will begin to mold immediately.
And on top of that, they need to sleep somewhere and find a way provide food and water for their families. Oh, and make a living. Everything won’t be free for the next year.
There’s another thing to consider: They likely don’t have any of this stuff. Who keeps tarps and plywood around? How many people have chainsaws? A lot of us on the coast have that stuff, because hurricanes are a part of life. In the places that are now devastated, they have snow shovels, not hurricane supplies.
Based on my experiences after Hugo, here’s what they need… today… but they can’t get it for love or money: Chainsaws, gas, 2-stroke oil, chain oil, ice, canned goods, bread, canned meat, peanut butter/jelly, bread, water, candy, flashlights, battery lanterns, battery powered radios, paperback books, dry ice, coolers, toilet paper, contractor grade garbage bags, toilet paper, paper towels… and cash. When the roads open, people are going to come pouring in to sell those items, but they aren’t going as volunteers. You can hate on “gougers” all you want, but they were a godsend after Hugo.
***
***
Five bucks for a bag of one dollar ice was a dream come true, because ice was a luxury, and you couldn’t find any within 100 miles. $300 chainsaw for $500? You got it. A generator was the ultimate luxury, and if you had the dough you’d pay whatever they were demanding. You’ve got to understand your thinking is very different when you realize no one is coming, and you have to self-rescue.
Why did we celebrate the arrival of the gypsy salesmen? Because we lived in Mt. Pleasant, and the free resources and volunteers that were available understandably went to the economically disadvantaged.
It is human nature—and I understand it—to think, “Middle-class and upper-class? They can take care of themselves.”
It’s impossible for someone outside a disaster area to connect with the idea that the person with the million-dollar home is in the same survival mode as someone who lives in a mobile home.
***
According to local officials, Greenwood County, S.C., has received some 15,000+ emergency ration meals following last weeks landfall of Hurricane Helene.
— Andrew Fancher (@RealAndyFancher) September 30, 2024
“Things are tough right now,” said Greenwood Mayor Brandon A. Smith while distributing EMR’s on Monday. “We’re trying to… pic.twitter.com/nHUkZvTB81
***
You can, of course, donate to big agencies like Samaritan’s Purse or Water Missions International. Just make sure the pass-through ratio is excellent. (Please don’t give to the Red Cross. They will simply use your money to build their empire, exactly as they did after 9/11. They were gifted over a billion dollars, and almost zero went directly to the victims’ families).
You can also look around your community—perhaps via social media—for people planning to drive directly into the region, and unload the supplies mentioned above at a local church or community center. Ask your friends to give them (or you) money to pay for the supplies. If you have the time, offer to help them gather the supplies from Lowe’s, Wal-Mart, and Costco.
But please, buy the specific things listed above. That’s what’s needed.
After Katrina, our church raised $20,000 in about four days. The Pastor gave me the church credit card to spend the money on supplies, and a few friends and I spent a day buying stuff. We loaded the church van and hooked up a trailer. We filled them both, set out for New Orleans, and drove as far into the mess as we could. We found a church set up to give out supplies, and their team unloaded.
The Pastor’s eyes were wide when he saw we’d brought, and he asked us, “How did you know exactly what we needed?”
“Went through Hugo,” I explained.
***
HURRICANE HELENE | COMPLETE COVERAGE
***
As amazed as he was at the supplies we brought, he wept when we gave him cash.
Hurricane Helene will be entirely gone from the news cycle after they “get” to report the total number of souls that perished. That will be a very exciting and dramatic day for the media, of course… then, silence.
The survivors of Helene will be in a living in the basement of Hell for the next two months. After that, they’ll move into Hell’s living room for another few months, and finally reach Hell’s front porch after a year.
The destruction in the photos I’ve seen look worse than Hugo. Worse than Katrina. Our neighbors in this region are going to need volunteers, supplies, and money for a year. And the “federal relief” will be a complete goat-rope, because everything the government touches is pathetic. They should simply give the money they’ll blow directly to non-profits and the residents of the area… but they won’t.
It’s up to us.
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Prioleau Alexander is a freelance writer, focusing mostly on politics and non-fiction humor. He is the author of four books: ‘You Want Fries With That?,’ ‘Dispatches Along the Way,’ ‘Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?‘ and ‘They Don’t Call It The Submission Process For Nothing.’
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
7 comments
I guess the “storm coverage” time period has passed so now we can move back to the “gubmint bad” and “global warming no real” grifts.
P- You really cued my interest on the comment about Red Cross wasting a billion dollars after 9/11. Can you give us a cite on that? I’d like to learn more about it.
The # eventually reached 1 billion, at which time they stopped collecting. Probably because they were being crucified in the press. They really are a sham. This is 1,000% of stories out there.
https://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/11/06/rec.charity.hearing/index.html
https://www.propublica.org/article/disturbing-things-about-the-red-crosss-sandy-relief-efforts
https://www.npr.org/2014/10/30/360019809/red-cross-troubles-have-been-building-for-years
https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/9-11-briefs-200-000-units-of-blood-was-wasted-1095659.php
I’ve been out since Saturday doing assessments for the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s Disaster Recovery Program. The greater Columbia/Midlands area was hit much harder than the news knows, and we still have 100s of houses with trees on them, roads that are barely passable and homes without power, way down at the end of the road, in that 5% that won’t have power by Thursday.
All of our teams are 100% volunteer and the churches fund some of the equipment with the team members providing the rest. My church, (Shandon) has been pretty generous and we can (and often do) outfit 15 cutters and 15 helpers with saws/tools and PPE. Team members provide tractors, their own PPE and saws. There are only a couple of full-time workers at the Convention who take care of planning, training and establishing the EOC when disaster strikes.
We don’t solicit any money, ever, though most teams will take a donation to the church that is then passed directly to replacing chainsaw blades, PPE or tarping material or passed back to the Convention to prepare for the next go around.
If you want to help out through a program where you know every dime goes to those in need, you can drop off supplies at Shandon Baptist on Forest. This material will be taken directly to western NC for distribution. They have specifically asked for: Generators, diapers, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, formula, beef stew, peanut butter, canned chicken or tuna, crackers, gas cans, non-perishable foods, hygiene supplies and cleaning supplies. Visit shandon.org with questions, to request help or to sign up to serve.
The Colonel,
Thank you for stepping up, and giving others info on how they can too! Dropping supplies is a more rewarding feeling than money, because you know that very chainsaw (or Gatorade) is going to handed directly to someone who needs it.
Before you give money to Samaritan’s purse, please keep this in mind. Franklin Graham is paid over a $807,000 in salary from Samaritan’s Purse in 2022. When you add to his pay from Billy Graham Evangelical Association, his income is over a million dollars a year, and that does not include the perks, like the use of an unnecessary private jet. And this is not new, in 2013 his income was well above the average salary of CEOs at the top 50 U.S. charities, which was between $350,000 and $450,000 (still too much). In 2013, Graham’s salary made him the highest-paid CEO of any international relief agency.
Like Trump, Graham is a grifter. Trading on his family name, he lives a lavish lifestyle convincing people who live on Social Security to give away their money and then he takes a cut of what they give.
But, if you think that is an aberration among the “rich preachers,” look at the incomes of all the “Evangelists” who support Trump. Show me a rich preacher and I will show you a conman.
The sad part about “once in a lifetime” storms like this – not to be confused with the “thousand year storm” that happened not that long ago – is that global warming is going to effectively turn this stuff into the rule for hurricane seasons rather than the exception. We’ll witness the carnage happen repeatedly and more frequently as time goes on. And in true ‘Murika fashion, similar to how “hottest year on record” happens every year, rather than be appalled and demand action, we’ll get desensitized to it and increasingly ignore it.
You know, like school shootings.
“It’s too expensive to fix.”
“Nothing can really be done about it.”
“Thoughts and prayers.”
“We can’t talk about it because it’s too soon since the last tragedy.”
“Maybe if teachers were armed someone could have shot the hurricane before it killed anyone.”
Wait…