How best to help with hurricane relief as McHenry County-area businesses, national groups organize aid

When Hurricane Harvey devastated parts of Texas in 2017, Debbie Feltner stepped up as a donation site. Her son drove a truck loaded with items dropped off in Northern Illinois to a church they’d coordinated with in Texas.

Feltner, owner of two Dave’s Transmissions locations in Round Lake Beach, is again taking in donations through Oct. 15. She plans to take those items to Naperville, adding to donations organized by Chicago-based band Hillbilly Rockstarz.

“The organization we are delivering to is a nonprofit farm in Bryson, North Carolina, that is distributing the items throughout their community as well as other communities throughout the state,” according to a post on the band’s Facebook page. The band has a semi ready to take the supplies to North Carolina, one of the states hit hard by flooding following Hurricane Helene.

Feltner is asking for donations of ready-to-eat food, baby supplies, pet supplies, safety supplies, beverages, camping supplies, personal hygiene products and cleaning supplies.

For those looking to donate cash, McHenry County Emergency Management Agency Director David Christensen suggests going to “the heavy hitters: Samaritan’s Purse, the Salvation Army, and the Red Cross.”

One that might be a little less well-known, but that has a large impact on the areas they help, is Team Rubicon.

”I have worked with all of them in disaster zones,” Christensen said.

“The easiest thing for them to handle ... is cash.”

—  David Christensen, McHenry County Emergency Management Director

There are other organizations that do work across the country, and people looking to donate should research online and determine where their money should go, he said. Regardless of the agency, however, “the easiest thing for them to handle ... is cash.”

The large charities have relationships that allow them to purchase more products while shipping it shorter distances, he said.

“One dollar goes a lot further for them than you purchasing an item,” he said.

Christensen’s example is a case of water purchased in Illinois and then shipped to North Carolina, where someone has to sort through a truck and perhaps find a place to store the donations before distribution. The charities can buy local and know when and where the water was purchased from.

He asks that while though the gesture is well-intentioned, people do not send clothing or household items to disaster zones because of the sorting involved. He remembers one disaster area where someone sent a semi truck full of stoves.

“What am I going to do with that?” he remembered thinking. “We don’t have anyplace to put that.”

The other need many of the nonprofit organizations have is for volunteers.

“The other thing they need is your time. The organization may put you though training days and what have you, but then they can send you down there,” Christensen said.

That is one of the things he appreciated about Team Rubicon. The group is made up of military veterans who go to help with manpower during disasters. A team came up to McHenry County during Fox River floods.

“They are trained to wield an axe or a shovel. Back in 2017 they were an amazing resource,” Christensen said.

The need for help for hurricane victims in the Southeast is expected to multiply with Hurricane Milton taking aim at the Florida Gulf Coast.