Impossible to ignore: Faith groups' impact on hurricane recovery

Published September 15, 2017

by Demi Dowdy, Civitas Institute, September 13, 2017

It’s impossible to ignore the impact that the faith community is having on hurricane recovery efforts since Harvey struck Texas and Irma devastated Florida and much of the southeast.

In fact, even USA Today has recognized religious groups are providing “the bulk” of recovery, a whopping 80 percent.

What the media is shocked to discover is something we conservatives already know: that when real help is needed, government entities fall tragically short of providing aid in a crisis. We’ve seen this to be true of Veterans Affairs offices that fail to meet the needs of our own veterans, true of the public school system, consistently outperformed by private and charter schools, failing our children.

Here in North Carolina, Governor Roy Cooper recently issued grants to a handful of effective disaster relief organizations to aid in the rebuilding efforts in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. The majority of the grant money was issued to relief organizations with religious affiliations, totaling almost double the amount awarded to other groups.

That’s right, even Roy Cooper cannot ignore the fact that religious organizations are most effective at disaster relief.

You see, when I’m asked why I’m a conservative, the short version of that answer comes pretty easily. I’m a conservative because I believe individuals and organizations like churches do a much better job at organizing and implementing where the government falls short.

And it appears as though members of the faith community are taking seriously the Bible’s mandate to care for the widows and orphans in their affliction (James 1:27) and the command that we love one another as we have been loved (John 15:12.)

https://www.nccivitas.org/civitas-review/impossible-ignore-faith-groups-impact-disaster-recover/