Hurricane / Tropical Storm Harvey rainfall as of August 28, 2017

Your gifts for Hurricane Disaster Relief will send fresh produce into areas affected by Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma in the coming months as recovery efforts continue.

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At this time, the people in Southeast Texas, Southwest Louisiana, and Florida affected by the 2017 hurricanes need the most basic types of assistance. They likely have no means for preparing or storing food, so shelf-stable, ready-to-eat food makes the most sense. This is not the type of food SoSA acquires or distributes.

SoSA volunteers packing potatoes for victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Moreover, the infrastructure for getting food into the area and distributing it is currently a shambles: the flooding is still happening, roads are impassable or destroyed, rescues are ongoing, and distribution command centers haven’t even been set up.

Disaster-relief nonprofits, such as the American Red Cross, UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief), PDA (Presbyterian Disaster Assistance), Episcopal Relief and Development, Mennonite Committee on Relief, Week of Compassion/Disciples Volunteering, and others are trained and equipped to be immediate, efficient responders when natural disasters hit.

A victim of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, with potatoes supplied by SoSA.

Intense recovery work in these areas will continue for a year or longer, and that will give way to chronic recovery work that may last more than a decade.

The Society of St. Andrew will stay out of the way in this immediate response time, but will seek opportunities to get fresh produce into affected areas when our agency partners on the ground there tell us they are ready to receive and distribute it.