We all know that a disaster strikes without warning and leaves a trail of destruction in its wake. Hurricane Harvey, is the fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade and the damage that will leave behind is estimated at tens of billions of dollars, making it one of the costliest US natural disasters.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long said that more than 450,000 people were expected to seek disaster assistance due to flooding.
While authorities still don’t know the full scope of the damage, because the weather conditions are still preventing emergency crews from getting into the hardest-hit place, one thing is sure: no one is thinking about the thousands of dollars that will be lost in home automation equipment, by our fellow community members.
While I strongly encourage you to make contributions to reputable local and national organizations, I would also like to point out, that our community is more than just a place where we offer “peer to peer” technical support, it is really a “virtual family”!
At this point we don’t really know how many folks from our forum are affected, but we are starting to see Harvey’s impact. Austin Pritchett ( @ajpri ) has shared some of his firsthand experience. As folks who are now stranded and in need of immediate assistance will start their recovering efforts, we will certainly hear more about Harvey’s aftermath. If you live or know someone in the community that lives in the disaster area, we would like to help!
We have created a GoFundMe campaign to specifically help a few of our fellow community members. Our goal is to collect $250 for each approved household that has a verified residential address in the affected area and who has been a SmartThings community forum member (https://community.smartthings.com) for at least a month.
The funds will be distributed in the order that applications are approved and based on the total amount of donations received. Any undisbursed funds will be donated to All Hands Volunteers Charity of Houston: https://www.hands.org/texas-hurricane-response/
Click here if you’d like to contribute…
Stay safe!
