Ways You Can Help Hurricane Harvey Victims in Texas

Hurricane Harvey will go down as one of the most destructive natural disasters in history. The hurricane brought destruction on the Texas Gulf Coast and now the system is stationary over the Metro of Houston, dropping heavy rains on already flooded areas.

Being a native of South Louisiana, and having experienced many hurricanes including Rita and Katrina, I was amazed at the amount of support I received from total strangers just hours after Hurricane Rita moved inland from Lake Charles, LA. We had days and weeks without power and safe drinking water. Outside of the normal support from state and national agencies, there were service organizations and churches from across the nation moving into the area, setting up shop and cooking and serving hot food, in addition to handing out toiletries, clothing and offering emotional support.

The same happened in our area when we experienced major flooding in North Dakota. It  was a real blessing and an example of humanity to see the nation come together to help total strangers in regions outside of their own homeland.

With that being said, I have reached out to family and friends to get a list of ways you can help the victims of this historic flood in Texas and Louisiana. Many of these organizations, I remember from my time on the Gulf Coast, working through the disasters. The best way you can help is financial support to credible organizations that will put these funds to work to help those effected by the flooding.

• United Way of Greater Austin-  You can also text FLOODS to 41444 to make a donation.
• Hayes County Food Bank
• Austin Pets Alive - to assist with housing and food for pets effected by Hurricane Harvey.
• American Red Cross- plus Those looking to donate can also do so by phone by calling 512-928-4271 or by texting REDCROSS to 90999 for a $10 donation.
• Catholic Charities
• Salvation Army of Central Texas

By clicking the charity of your choice above, you'll be linked to a website where you can make a donation.

This is going to be a prolonged event for the families in these areas as rain continues to fall and will continue to soak the area through Friday of the coming week.