Appeal for Hurricane Maria Relief

When I was 23 years old, I was working a good (if awfully quiet) office job in Chicago. It was steady work. No matter what was going on in the world, I knew what I would be doing 9-5.

And I was okay with that.

But then Hurricane Katrina came barreling through New Orleans. It wasn't the severity of the disaster that shocked my conscience. What shocked me was how slow help was in coming. Day after day, I would open the news, and read in disbelief that another day had passed and still there was no help. These were Americans who were suffering, my fellow citizens. Yet my 9-5 job rolled on as if nothing had happened.

And I was not okay with that.

I decided that I could not live a life in which the hardships and sufferings of the vulnerable bore no relationship to my life. I needed to change my life and make a difference in the world.

A dozen years later, I am heart-broken to be in just the same position all over again. Once again, disaster relief is so slow in coming as to shock the conscience. Day after day, I open the news and see that Puerto Rico still has not received the help it needs.

These are Americans, our fellow citizens crying out for help, yet help does not appear. I have been frozen in place for too many days, waiting for someone else-anyone else-to swoop in and make things right in Puerto Rico.

This call should have gone out sooner, but we are sending it out now. The ministers of Old South Church are calling on the congregation to give generously to the UCC Disaster Relief Ministries to aid in hurricane recovery in Puerto Rico. Our denominational partners maintain relationships all over the country with effective and reputable aid organizations, people doing the hard work of long term relief for disasters.

We invite you to give and, in giving, help those so much in need who are crying out for the world to respond. Visit Old South Church's secure online giving page and select "Hurricane Disaster Relief".

Together in service ...

Rev. John Edgerton