Stepping up in time of need

Suppose, just suppose, you lived in an area that was hit by either a strong tornado, hurricane, or perhaps an earthquake, and everything you owned there was destroyed. The storm has passed, but not its damage.

You stand there, shocked and in disbelief, and then the reality of what has happened starts to kick in. What are you going to do? You don’t have the resources to just write it off and move on, and your source of income was destroyed by the storm when it wiped out most of the businesses in town. So, what are you going to do?

I don’t know about you, but I would probably begin to cry, to pray a lot, and to look around to see if anyone cared enough to help. And, there is help.

Everyone has heard about FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), which is the federal assistance program provided by our tax dollars through our government. Right now, around $15 billion dollars are being distributed through FEMA to those suffering from the effects of Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Hurricanes Emma and Jose in Puerto Rico and Florida.

I lived in the area of a major flood, and I can personally attest that while FEMA may not be perfect, its assistance also may never be minimized. Without it, countless individuals and families would be left to the elements and doomed to destruction.

There also are a large number of local faith communities which maintain and deploy help during disasters, local government agencies which maintain order and emergency services, and other groups that specialize in helping people when disaster strikes. Those groups normally are well trained and organized and are welcome at disaster scenes.

But there is another group that too often is taken for granted. When you enter a disaster zone, one of the first things you notice is the shelters and the food providers. Most of the time, these are provided and manned by the American Red Cross and

its volunteers. Red Cross workers provide food, shelter, counseling, referrals to medical staff, and countless other services to those who have been traumatized by disaster. FEMA provides recovery assistance for people following a disaster, but it is the American Red Cross that provides First Disaster Responders.

The American Red Cross is a strictly volunteer organization that does not receive federal funding. Its resources come from the donations made by individuals and businesses who care enough to give. Let me give you an example of how those funds are used.

I recently received an email from Gail McGovern, president and CEO of the American Red Cross, which provided an update on Red Cross activities in southern Texas. At the time of this writing, there were more than 5,300 dedicated Red Cross workers on the ground in Texas, Louisiana, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina — delivering comfort and hope to those who have been impacted by hurricanes. Over the past several weeks, the Red Cross has worked with its community partners to provide more than 985,000 overnight shelter stays and has served more than 3.6 million meals and snacks to people in need. In addition, the Red Cross is even now working with its case workers to provide much-needed financial assistance to those in need.

Small groups dedicated to helping people in need are vitally important, but they cannot begin to approach dealing with major disasters. It takes a huge organization such as the Red Cross working with its federal and local partners to assess the situation, oversee the response, and to provide guidance throughout the recovery period. Having had the opportunity to study at least a part of what the Red Cross does, I am amazed at the scope of its operation and way it is put together in

order to both quickly and effectively facilitate disaster assistance.

On a lesser scale, but just as important, is the fact that most small disasters (if there is such a thing) are caused by house fires. There were 53 of these in Arkansas during August. To that end, the American Red Cross is in the process of giving and installing around 10,000 smoke alarms to needy people in northwest Arkansas this fall.

You never know when disaster may strike or its full destructive force until it happens. Then, as I said before for myself, you begin to allow your emotions to erupt, pray a lot to God, and then begin to look for caring people who are willing to help. Certainly, there are a lot of good people who both care and who give when disaster strikes. May God bless them and the people they help.