Jack of Harts

This has been an interesting week in America.

Hurricane Harvey smashed much of the Gulf Coast into dust bunnies and flooded hundreds of thousands of people out of their homes.

Fires in the west threaten cities and they would love just a little bit of the rain that Texas and company got.

Antifa are beating free speech organizers in Berkley. Berkley, California, the self-described birthplace of the free speech movement.

And Cajun navy and red neck monster trucks are rescuing people from houses that are flooding even now.

The legacy of Hurricane Harvey will last for years, and just the removal of junk that used to be peoples’ possessions will take months at least. Homes and businesses will take months to rebuild, and city water systems will be right with them.

Harvey will be remembered for decades, maybe centuries, but most of us will forget it in a matter of weeks as we worry about what shoes the First Lady wears while we eat cake, or if it is an ethical violation for the President to wear one of his own hats. Harvey will become a footnote, like Katrina, Sandy, and so many other storms that have come and are forgotten.

But the people who were affected by it will still be rebuilding while we go on with our lives. Here are some links to non-profit aid organizations that will help them, and will not forget about those in need.

Samaritan’s Purse

Salvation Army

Red Cross

All Hands

If you can’t help directly, please consider giving money to these or other non-profits you know of so they can help the victims of Hurricane Harvey. Any money you give now will be greatly appreciated by those who need it in the months and years to come.

Thank you.

Hurricane Harvey is no more. He is a few scattered storms generating merely six inches of rain or so in the Ohio River Valley. He’s a little bit of local flooding now, but his legacy lives on.

Overloaded river systems throughout the gulf coast are trying to drain themselves, but all they find is more overloaded systems downstream. Dams are forced to relieve pressure by releasing millions of gallons of water and new neighborhoods drown under sunny skies. It has been a week since Harvey first hit Texas, and his winds are all but gone, but the water he sucked out of the gulf and dropped all over our lands is widely hailed as the greatest natural disaster in the history of America.

I doubt we will ever truly know how much damage was done in the last week. We’ll state numbers of lives lost, and the cost in billions, maybe trillions, of dollars. But those numbers will never quantify all the damage we’ve been dealt. They’ll also never be able to quantify the hundreds of thousands of Americans who had to leave their homes, or the tens of thousands who piloted boats and other rescue vehicles through the rising waters to save thousands of people who discovered too late that it was too late to evacuate.

We will never be able to accurately quantify the true costs of Harvey. The best we will ever have is estimates. But the best of humanity met Harvey even as he raged all over the coast, and continues to stand now. National Guard, Peacekeepers, and Cajun Navy personnel stand side by side in defense of their fellow man today, and continue to bring people to dryer land as we watch. They are the greatest legacy of Harvey.

But the recovery will take years. People need our help now, next week, next month, and next year. When most of us have forgotten about them, they will still need help.

Here are some links to non-profit aid organizations that will do that help, and will not forget about those in need.

Samaritan’s Purse

Salvation Army

Red Cross

All Hands

If you can’t help directly, please consider giving money to these or other non-profits you know of so they can help the victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Thank you.