Recently I saw the movie Dunkirk which tells the story of one of the most inspiring events in British History. In May and June 1940, the first months of the Second World War, British and French forces were no match for the German war machine. The continent had fallen. Germany had penned in 400,000 Allied soldiers at Dunkirk, a village on the coast of France. Against all odds, a flotilla of 700 small privately-owned British fishing boats, tugs, ferries and pleasure craft raced across the English Channel to assist military vessels to evacuate the troops, in what became known as the “Little Ships of Dunkirk.”
Well, this past week, we saw again inspiring events as the people of Texas and a nation assisted others (and continue to do so) in response to a historic hurricane called Harvey.
Reminiscent of the “Little Ships of Dunkirk,” pleas from public officials for their citizens to assist with overwhelmed First Responders in rescuing and getting people from flooded areas in Texas, was met with all kinds of floating craft coming to the rescue.
Just think how overwhelming the hurricane and the flooding was to the people of Texas, not just in the past week, but how it will affect them for many months and maybe years to come.
As we know, some people lost everything. Flood insurance was probably had by few. Imagine the upheaval to routines of life. Imagine, if that was us or a family member…
No doubt, various agencies (including Catholic Agencies) jumped in to help immediately. But as we know, resources are needed, starting just with the BASICS of food, water, clothing and shelter for many people. And moving forward, one can only guess the needs that people will have.
One person affected by Hurricane Harvey may have summed it up for all the people affected by Hurricane Harvey, “You switch from everyday life to survival life.”
How can we help? That has been the overwhelming questions on many people’s minds.
As they have done in the past, so they are doing now and into the future: Catholic Charities USA is and will be well after the reporters and cameras move on to the next headline. Charitable agencies have noted that what is needed is financial assistance.
To that end, we will be accepting financial donations to assist the people affected by Hurricane Harvey the weekends of Sept. 10 and 17. (Collection containers will be at all the church doors – all monies will be sent to Catholic Charities USA for Hurricane Harvey assistance)
Might I suggest having a family meeting, today or this week. Talk about and pray about what your personal and family financial gift might be.
We cannot be in Texas, but others are there on our behalf. As one person has shared: “Some people give by going; Some people go by giving.”