One of the largest humanitarian organizations in America, Operation Blessing International (OBI), is currently responding to Hurricane Harvey in Texas, Hurricane Irma in Florida and also to the earthquake that rattled Mexico last week.
“Operation Blessing was founded in 1978 and in almost 40 years since, we have never seen so many major disasters occur right on top of each other,” said Bill Horan, the humanitarian organization’s president. “This summer and early fall have turned into a record season of suffering for untold millions.”
In Houston, Operation Blessing’s domestic disaster relief team arrived prior to landfall and is coordinating mass volunteer efforts in the hard-hit areas of Rockport, Beaumont and Port Arthur as well as providing other relief efforts in nearly a dozen additional cities. In the last week since the storm, Operation Blessing has coordinated over 3,800 volunteers, with much work yet to be done. The charity still has hundreds of requests for help from homeowners and is in need of many extra hands.
In Florida, Operation Blessing pre-staged hundreds of thousands of pounds of relief supplies at its Ocala facility. During the storm, team leaders delivered food and water to an evacuation shelter at an Ocala high school serving 1,000 residents. Now that the storm has passed, OBI is distributing the emergency supplies via its fleet of semi-trailer trucks—the first distributions are scheduled for Crystal River and Jacksonville.
In Mexico, Operation Blessing’s Mexico City facility delivered tons of emergency food and supplies that are being distributed to families in the earthquake zone (Oaxaca). OB Mexico also deployed three mobile kitchens that will be serving thousands of hot meals to residents and responders, as well as an array of water purification equipment capable of purifying millions of liters of water.
“This is a very good time to recall the classic words of President Ronald Reagan, who said: ‘We cannot help everyone, but everyone can help someone,'” added Horan. “If you feel compassion for those who are suffering as a result of these disasters and don’t know what you can do to help, please consider coming to Houston for a few days to volunteer or by making a donation to Operation Blessing; you could change someone’s life.”
Last week, President Trump announced he would personally donate $25,000 to Operation Blessing for hurricane relief.
“We are so excited and honored that the President chose Operation Blessing as one of his preferred charities. We promise everyone who donates that we will act on your behalf with absolute integrity and efficiency,” said Horan.
For more information on Operation Blessing International: www.ob.org.
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