Hurricane Harvey – How can you help?

You have most likely seen pictures of the devastation from Hurricane Harvey along the Texas Gulf Coast on TV or online. I live in the Houston area and was very fortunate that my house didn’t sustain any damage. Several of my friends, and tens of thousands of other Texans were not so lucky.

This weekend I helped a relative in the Kingwood area (North of Houston) and one of my oldest friends in the Friendswood area (South of Houston) and was able to witness the destruction and devastation first hand. The picture with this blog is an actual picture from in front of my friends house. He and his wife lost everything and will have to totally rebuild. It is estimated there are more than 100,000 Texas residents in the same boat. This storm was devastating. Luckily the people I helped this weekend had flood insurance so they will be able to rebuild. They also have relatives they can stay with while they rebuild. There are tens of thousands of Texans that didn’t have any flood insurance. These people don’t have the resources to stay at a hotel and many have nowhere to go so they are staying at shelters. The generosity of the local community in helping these people can’t be understated. However, there are so many in need that the donations to date don’t come close to helping everyone that was affected.

That’s why I’m asking the Counselor community if you can help. If you would like to give to help people that have been affected by Hurrricane Harvey please do. No amount is too small and LINK for Counselors will match your donation. We are going to match donations given by LINK for Counselors readers up to $1,000. If you make your donation by September 15th, which is the press closing date for our Fall issue, we will also list your Name and School in the issue as someone who donated (we won’t list the amount, no amount is too small – even $10 will help).

You can donate to any charity that you like that is helping Harvey victims and just send us an e-mail to Jason@linkforcounselors.com with your name, school,  donation amount, and the charity given to and we will match your donation.

We are recommending  J.J. Watt’s foundation and that is where will make the donation of matching funds. J.J. Watt is a pro football player for the Houston Texans who is leading the charge to raise money for victims and has vowed that 100% of all donations will go directly to people affected. This is important as many charities only give a portion of the amount donated to the cause and a substantial percentage goes to administrative costs, salaries, etc. One website that lets you check how much of your donation goes to the intended cause is http://www.charitynavigator.com

If you would like to make a donation to JJ Watt’s charity/foundation for flood victims here is the link – https://www.youcaring.com/victimsofhurricaneharvey-915053

Jason Bullock, CBC
Publisher, LINK for Counselors

Jason@linkforcounselors.com