Often, during a disaster or time of crisis, people will help victims selflessly causing many to say that the actions “restored their faith in humanity.” By now, we’ve all seen the various reports coming out of south Texas chronicling the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. Many of us have friends or family who have been impacted by the storm – including me as my brother and his wife were evacuated from their home in Houston last Wednesday in preparation for additional flooding caused by the release of water from several area dams. As I write this, they don’t know what, if anything, will be left when they return.
This storm – and its devastation – has impacted all of us.
To put this hurricane in perspective, Katrina dumped 6.5 trillion gallons of water on New Orleans in 2005 while the deluge of Harvey was almost three times that at 15 trillion. By the time this is posted, Harvey will have dissipated into little more than a rainstorm over the northeastern United States, but the impact the storm has had on both people and property is far from over. It’s been difficult to watch friends like Sean and Leslie Roark from PromoPros, Kelsey Cunningham and Lara Gryder from Imagen Brands, Walter Kurt from 3K Consultants, and Jenna Abercrombie from Pepco suffer while so many of us felt helpless.
Last week, during the height of the storm, the promotional products industry came together in a way that is rarely seen in our world:
• ASI pledged $25,000 to match hurricane relief efforts – learn more about this effort here
• PPAI reached out to association members in Houston offering assistance and shelter
• Via the Regional Association Council, PPAI also has a Business Recovery Fund which you can learn about here (disclosure: I’m on the RAC board)
• Jason Lucash and Mike Szymczak from Origaudio led efforts and called on other suppliers to deliver power banks, clothing, hand sanitizers and other goods to impacted areas
• Rich Corvalan from Charles River Apparel put the company van on the road loaded up with donations for the impacted areas
• Hirsch Gift in Houston has been collecting specific products the company will personally deliver to those in need, just like they did during Katrina
That’s just the tip of the assistance iceberg from the promotional products industry as support efforts both large and small continue to pour in – and they are needed. I can tell you first hand that this is an industry that truly takes care of its own. If you haven’t had an opportunity to find a way to help the people impacted by this disaster, I ask you to please do so. If you don’t know how to help, here is a great resource outlining the organizations that need support and how to donate to them directly. I’ve always believed in the inherent good of people and that has been on clear display in Houston and other parts of south Texas.
So, I wouldn’t say that my faith in humanity has been restored; it’s been validated.
#houstonstrong
Bill is president of PromoCorner, the leading digital marketing service provider to the promotional products industry, and has over 17 years working in executive leadership positions at leading promotional products distributorships. In 2014, he launched brandivate – the first executive outsourcing company solely focused on helping small and medium sized-promotional products enterprises responsibly grow their business. A featured speaker at numerous industry events, a serial creator of content marketing, president of the Promotional Products Association of the Mid-South (PPAMS), and PromoKitchen chef, Bill has extensive experience coaching sales teams, creating successful marketing campaigns, developing operational policies and procedures, creating and developing winning RFP responses, and presenting winning promotional products solutions to Fortune 500 clients. He can be reached at bill@PromoCorner.com.