We want to help. We want our hard earned dollars to have an impact. Or maybe we don’t have money, but there is some other way we can help those affected by Hurricane Harvey, and in other natural disasters around the world. Here is a list that we’ve put together from various sources (which will be listed & linked to at the end). Not all of these charities have been rated by various watchdog groups, but that is not necessarily a ding against them. Some don’t have the annual budget to qualify. Clicking on the names of the charities (or others) will take you to their website. We will update this as necessary.
**Please remember that though it is tempting to send stuff, almost all of the charities do not ask for that, with a few exceptions (see below).**
The Islamic Society, Love Has No Borders, and Penny Appeal are collecting items to take to Texas. More info is here in Sean Kinane’s news story. The first round of trucks have left Tampa already, but they may be taking more donations.
Donate your airline miles
Southwest Airlines and other airlines are working with Team Rubicon (A- rating from CW), which is deploying veterans to help in Texas (and probably Louisiana). You can use Airlink to donate United Airlines miles. Jetblue, Delta and most major airlines have similar systems. These miles are not tax deductible.
Donate hard cold cash
Houston’s Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, set up by the mayor of Houston, and administered by the Greater Houston Community Foundation.
Global Giving (4 stars from CN) states on their website: All donations to this fund will support recovery and relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey. Initially, the fund will help first responders meet survivors’ immediate needs for food, fuel, clean water, hygiene products, and shelter. Once initial relief work is complete, this fund will transition to support longer-term recovery efforts run by local, vetted organizations in the Gulf Coast.
GoFundMe set up a landing page for a ton of Hurricane Harvey campaigns and needs. These have been vetted through whatever system the website uses, but not by WMNF.
Donate your blood
If you are 16 years old or older; are healthy, weigh at least 110 pounds and have a photo id, you can probably give blood. Locally, you can go to the One-Blood website and put your zip code in and find out where their bloodmobile will be. Their phone number is 1-888-936-6283.
Food Banks
The Houston Food Bank, Corpus Christi Food Bank, and others are probably pretty overwhelmed right now, if they aren’t actually underwater. They could use your financial contributioins.
Diapers
The Twitterverse expressed shock when it found out that a lot of these relief organizations don’t supply diapers. The Texas Diaper Bank needs diapers, baby wipes, bottles etc. You can send them money, or go through this link to purchase diapers to be sent to them, or mail them to:
Texas Diaper Bank
West Loop II Business Park
5415 Bandera Rd. #504
San Antonio, TX 78238
Save the animals
Duncan Strauss, host of Talking Animals, spoke today with the founder of Rescued Pets Movement. They help, among other things, transport animals to foster care until their regular or a new home can be found. There are several organizations that are on the ground helping: Austin Pets Alive! , San Antonio Humane Society, and this is the link to the Houston Humane Society, though there is nothing on their website about Hurricane Harvey. Undoubtedly they have a lot on their hands right now. Wings of Rescue is assisting in moving animals out of the affected areas.
There are terrible floods in other parts of the world as well.
Devastating monsoons have affected millions on the other side of the world, killing more than 1,200 people in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Flooding and landslides have also killed over 1,000 people in Sierra Leone this month. A lot of people donate to the International Red Cross/Red Crescent to help. You can also give to Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, Save the Children, OXFAM. NPR has an interesting interview about the differences in dealing with these crises in the USA and Asia.
We used these sites to check on the charities, if they were listed. There are a lot more if you are looking for a specific cause.
You can also look at this list put out by NVOAD, which looks at disaster related charities.
Charity Navigator has a list of charities trying to help after Hurricane Harvey here.
Charity Watch
