Should Helping Hands Be Unseen

A fire over the weekend destroyed a medium sized apartment building across the street from my office.  The City demolished the building Sunday, the owner announced intent to sue the City Monday, and Tuesday the pile got covered by the biggest sheet of clear plastic I have ever seen.  Apparently, the mess has only started.

 

Three of us stood at a fourth floor window today, looking down at the seen, wondering if the building owner would fulfill obligations to house his tenants.  When one of us says "I hear they had a lot of Section 8", please understand that we work for a public housing agency, and our livelihoods, the roofs over our heads come from laboring for years on projects before the public is helped.  We could look at the pile and know the tenants needed immediate help and the owner's rebuilding promises were not going to touch their problems. 

 

I said I had just read that the Red Cross was housing the people in the recreation center of a city park and it could cost $20,000.  Another said she heard that shelter would only last a few days. 

 

"We should do something to help them", my coworker said. 

 

I suggested we can give to the Red Cross, I just emailed our blood drive coordinator to see if she is interested in taking this on or if the Red Cross might send a representative here. 

 

"Can't we do something to help those people, the tenants who lost their homes?"

 

Well, I am sure in a big situation like this, if we give to the Red Cross we can designate it for them.  They will get vouchers to shop for clothes and household goods.

 

Later, I was struck by the difference in approach.  Thus, this first real post to my new Blog:

 

I was interested in helping the helpers, offsetting the $20,000 Red Cross expenses to house the people and boosting the emergency fund by which the tenants could get replacement goods.

 

I felt my coworker, if she thought she could, would collect some money and pick up a family and take them to a store where they could meet their needs.

 

Did I feel the need to be more anonymous?

Do I trust a relief institution to make better decisions than those being helped?

Would her way have made for more of a warm fuzzy feeling?