Never is the compassion and generosity
of the American people more evident than
it is during and following a disaster. However, what is the best way for you to
participate in aiding survivors of a
disaster?
The best thing you can do is to
contribute funds to volunteer agencies
and faith-based organizations that have
coordinated efforts on the ground in
those local communities who are prepared
to aid those survivors. Too often we send
truckloads of supplies -- it could be used
clothing, it could be food or other
perishable items -- that volunteers simply
don't have time to unload and store for
later use. So by contributing funds, what we're
really doing is we're freeing up those
first responders and volunteers to meet
the immediate needs of those who have
been most impacted by the disaster. The
second thing we're doing is we're
pouring much-needed funding into the
local communities as they buy many of
those goods and services from local
vendors who happen to be either in the
local community or in the surrounding
area. And those funds actually help
businesses to recover more quickly, which
helps the community recover more quickly
So remember the next time you see a
disaster on television or you hear about
it on the radio, rather than jumping in
the truck and self-deploying to that
disaster or loading trucks full of
perishable goods that may actually just
sit along the road for days on end,
perhaps the best thing you can do is to
contribute funds to volunteer agencies
and faith-based organizations who are
prepared to help those who need it the
most.
Thank you.
 
