Image from WHAS 11-user submitted photo

I’ve had several people ask me if I’m going to be anything charity/drive wise for the tornado victims in my area.

I want to.  I’m checking to see what I can do without making matters worse, but I also want to make sure whatever I do will go right into the communities that were hit so hard.  This literally hit too close to home.

There is a park in Henryville where the guy and I sometimes take the kids.  He and I used to hang out there when we were dating.  We’ve got friends in New Pekin, friends in Henryville and a friend right near the area that was devastated by the Marysville tornado. So if I do anything, I want to make sure that it’s going to help my neighbors, my community.

But the problem with any disaster-and I know this for a fact-is that sometimes the best of intentions can only cause problems. First responders, cops, emergency workers of any kind will tell you this.  Whether people are there to help or there to gawk, if you aren’t trained, it’s too easy for you to add to the misery.

The same can happen when it comes to trying to help.  Even if you have the best of intentions. You can rush in when they are still trying to figure just what their needs are and that only adds to the chaos.  It’s sheer devastation in those areas now…they don’t need more chaos.

So I’m waiting.

I have reached out and asked a few questions, but the people I’ve contacted do have their hands full and I’m just a rung down on a very full ladder.  I don’t want to add to their crazy days.

If you do want to help, a few things that I do know:

Shirts that are being sold with the proceeds going to the relief efforts:

• My shirt helps
• Henryville Pride shirts (this is check or cash only but I think you can send in a check for the second order going out in a few weeks.  Some local students from Henryville put this one together, I think)

Clark County Red Cross-information on how to donate is here.  It’s the Clark Country, (In) Chapter if you do it online, or you can always do disaster relief.  The tornadoes are the major disaster going on now and the Red Cross provides immediate relief in times like this.

Community Foundation of Southern Indiana-they’ll be looking to provide long term relief from what I can tell.  Basically, they’ll be the ones helping the victims when the media forgets.  And they will.  The needs for these people are going to continue long after the camera crews and reporters leave.

Also at the bottom of the Community Foundation’s page is a link to a PDF put together of other ways to help-many of them are probably only going to be relevant if you’re local, but it also addresses things like what donations are being requested (and not).

I mention the not because in times like this, a lot of people rush to offer clothing & whatnot, but if they get inundated with too much of one thing and they don’t have the hands to handle it, it’s another one of those things that while good intentioned, does just add to the chaos.

So…I’m waiting.