So thankful -- please help in recovery

[Jazzbo]

I have family in Houston who made it through Hurricane Harvey with almost no physical damage (economic damage affected anyone who works hourly). My husband and I made it through Hurricane Irma in Orlando with no damage to our home. Our fence was damaged (we still don't know where the missing panels landed!); we had lots of debris in our back yard, along with 6" of water, and we were without power for 4 days. That seemed miserable to us, but when I see the devastation in the Keys and in the Caribbean, I am embarrassed to have complained.

We contributed to rescue and recovery efforts for Harvey and are doing the same for Irma. I ask all of you to consider helping as much as you can. The people who live and work in the beautiful places we are privileged to visit as we cruise are in dire straits.

There are many websites where you can check out the non-profits you consider donating to. Charity Navigator, Guide Star, Give Well, BBB, etc.

I personally give to Heart to Heart International, Salvation Army, and animal shelters who work together to free up space in local shelters to shelter pets of residents who have no home at the present time. People will evacuate if they know their pets have a safe place to stay where they know they can reunite with them.

There are so many needs You can't take address all of them, but you can help someone, somewhere.

[4cats4me]

Thank you for your very thoughtful post. [emoji4]

It is very sad how so many have lost everything.

[PROCRUISE]

I have family in Houston who made it through Hurricane Harvey with almost no physical damage (economic damage affected anyone who works hourly). My husband and I made it through Hurricane Irma in Orlando with no damage to our home. Our fence was damaged (we still don't know where the missing panels landed!); we had lots of debris in our back yard, along with 6" of water, and we were without power for 4 days. That seemed miserable to us, but when I see the devastation in the Keys and in the Caribbean, I am embarrassed to have complained.

We contributed to rescue and recovery efforts for Harvey and are doing the same for Irma. I ask all of you to consider helping as much as you can. The people who live and work in the beautiful places we are privileged to visit as we cruise are in dire straits.

There are many websites where you can check out the non-profits you consider donating to. Charity Navigator, Guide Star, Give Well, BBB, etc.

 

 

 

I personally give to Heart to Heart International, Salvation Army, and animal shelters who work together to free up space in local shelters to shelter pets of residents who have no home at the present time. People will evacuate if they know their pets have a safe place to stay where they know they can reunite with them.

There are so many needs You can't take address all of them, but you can help someone, somewhere.

 

Thanks for the kind reminder. I'm a BIG fan of The Salvation Army. Your donations to them will help those in need and not the CEO, like another well known operation does.

[Shadow9612]

... and animal shelters who work together to free up space in local shelters to shelter pets of residents who have no home at the present time. People will evacuate if they know their pets have a safe place to stay where they know they can reunite with them.

 

Thank you for this - I wouldn't have thought about this angle. . Doing my small part and donating to relief efforts and animal protection/shelter/help.

[Kartgv]

We've already donated to Salvation Army and are glad to see others mentioning them. I'm surprised that no one has mentioned (unless it's in another post) the email today from Celebrity saying they will match donations, up to $1 million, in partnership with "World Vision". If anyone didn't get the email, I can probably copy & paste it here.

[DYKWIA]

Just be careful when donating to charities in disaster appeals that it isn't a scam website or take extra steps to ensure that the website is officially part of the charity . Sadly it is increasingly common for

(1) Criminals to set up fake sites with the intention of defrauding you. Sometimes they will set up fake links to known charities on their web page.

(2) induvuduals (some of which are no doubt well meaning) to set up their own collections, promising to channel the money to other charities or the needy - where they don't really have the wherewithal to deal with what comes there way.

 

In the wake of Hurrucane Katrina it is believed over 4000 charity /aid web sites were set up, 60% were set up overseas and many were believed to be fake.

 

My wife and I came across one on the forum Flyertalk in the wake of the Asian Tsunami that was claiming to represent The Red Cross, it wasn't.

 

Look out for charities asking you to send money to things like Western Union (and the like) accounts.

[ReneeFLL]

Also don't be fooled because there might be a well know actor/actress in their commercials or on the websites. I have seen some actors touting charities for vets and the larger percentage goes to the "overhead" which includes huge saleries for some big wigs.

[Welland]

I

We contributed to rescue and recovery efforts for Harvey and are doing the same for Irma. I ask all of you to consider helping as much as you can. The people who live and work in the beautiful places we are privileged to visit as we cruise are in dire straits.

There are many websites where you can check out the non-profits you consider donating to. Charity Navigator, Guide Star, Give Well, BBB, etc.

I personally give to Heart to Heart International, Salvation Army, and animal shelters who work together to free up space in local shelters to shelter pets of residents who have no home at the present time. People will evacuate if they know their pets have a safe place to stay where they know they can reunite with them.

There are so many needs You can't take address all of them, but you can help someone, somewhere.

 

Remember that Celebrity has a link on their web page to donate for Hurricane relief. They will match donations up to one million dollars.