Gracious God,  

Your word of peace stills the storms that rage in our world. Bring hope to places that know devastation in the calm after the storm. Bring comfort to those who grieve the loss of loved ones and property. Let your love be known through those who work to bring order in the chaos. Help us to shoulder the burden of suffering and make us bearers of the hope that can be found in you through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen. 

As we continue to pray for those affected by the devastating flooding in Texas and New Mexico, we turn our attention to the flooding caused by Tropical Storm Chantal and additional storms here in the Carolinas. 

We are reaching out to the pastors of our congregations in the affected areas to learn more about the situations they face and are also working with our partners in VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) to determine the best ways to respond to this storm.  

The prayer above calls on all of us to help shoulder the burden of suffering and make us bearers of hope, so the next question becomes “How can we help?” 

As we shared in a quick Facebook post after the flooding caused by Chantal, the best way to help is always by donating financially.  We suggest you support Lutheran Disaster Response or LDR Carolinas to support the response.   

We also want to caution you – as we always do:  please do not self-deploy or send stuff to the affected areas.  You may ask why we say those same things after every disaster.   We have learned through our own experience, through FEMA training on Volunteer and Donations management, and through the repeated experience of others that both are problematic, no matter how well intentioned.    

If you have heard us speak at preparedness workshop or even preaching at an LDR Sunday, we share this along with the good news: 

Please do not ever self-deploy.  DO help your neighbors as you are able when a disaster affects your community, but don not just show up in an impacted area after a disaster, no matter how experienced you are.  Instead, work with LDR or another reputable volunteer organization.   

They will direct you how to help where it is needed most and will help you arrange housing.  Otherwise, you may be putting yourself in danger, using resources the community needs for disaster survivors, and actually complicating response efforts.   

Last fall after Helene, we heard numerous stories about volunteers endangered or injured when trees fell, additional mudslides occurred, or damaged roads continued to collapse.  We also heard from some well-meaning folks who arrived in a specific location and were upset when they could not find anyone who needed the type of help they were prepared to offer. 

Please don’t ever send stuff – not even bottled water – unless it has been specifically requested AND you know that someone in the disaster area is prepared to accept it, store it, and distribute it to those in need. Don’t ever send used clothing. 

We can tell you from personal experience about the challenges of storing, sorting, and distributing donated items – especially clothing – for months after a major disaster. We heard soon after Helene about tractor-trailer loads dropped off in small towns that were not prepared to handle that quantity of supplies and piles of used and unusable clothing that then needed to be discarded as trash.    

Many disaster response professionals consider excess donations to be the second disaster because they require space and time that are often in short supply after a disaster. 

Do give financial support!  In addition to donating directly to organizations at work in disaster response, consider sending gift cards for major retailers to the groups responding to the disaster.  Those financial gifts help responders and area residents affected by the disaster shop locally to purchase items that are needed.  This also supports the local economy by helping local businesses and their employees get back to normal!   

If you want to read about these same concerns in someone else’s words, here is a blog post from Kathryn Haueisen, the author of A Ready Hope, which is a resource we have used to help train others in how to prepare for and respond to disasters.  Let us know if you would like to read this book.  We have additional copies available.  And yes, we are the couple she mentions in this post!   

Prayer from https://resources.elca.org/lutheran-disaster-response/worship-resource-natural-disaster/    

Photo from https://www.facebook.com/ncweatherauthority