PPB April 2018

W e knew Hurricane Harvey was coming. The upside of hurricane trackers is that humans in their path are given time to prepare. We stock up on water, ice, food, gas, propane, batteries and flashlights. We board up our windows, sit back and wait. The downside, of course, is what comes next. Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane at Rockport, Texas, near the Texas Gulf Coast on August 25, 2017, and then struck the Houston area some 200 miles north as a violent tropical storm. By the time Harvey had exhaled, the storm had dumped more than 60 inches of rain on the region over a six-day period. Despite an intricate waterway system in the U.S.’s fourth largest city (Houston is called the Bayou City), no one in the Houston area was really prepared for the floodwaters that followed. Once the rain had stopped, more than 200,000 homes had been damaged or destroyed, hundreds of thousands of vehicles were flooded and almost 40,000 people were displaced, with many of them in temporary shelters across the area. At least 86 people in the area lost their lives to the storm. Legions of shelters and donation facilities opened across the city. Truckloads of donated items including clothing, food, water and other necessities began arriving from all over the country. Volunteers sprang into action to bring comfort and care to those affected. The promotional products industry, which always takes care of its own, was no exception. A call to action was initiated, and Peter Hirsch, president of Houston-based supplier Hirsch Gift, was one of the first to volunteer. As he did after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Hirsch coordinated the massive effort to receive and house industry donations in a loaned warehouse near his company’s facility. Volunteers from the Houston Promotional Products Association (HPPA) also stepped in to help coordinate the more than 200 skids of donated promotional products that arrived over a two-week period to aid HPPA members and the Houston area community at large. Powerful? Yes! But the problem, as with many efforts like this, was the sheer number of donated items that needed to be sorted and distributed, and the comparatively small numbers of volunteers available to do so. Hirsch likens it to a funnel. “So Lessons From Hurricane Harvey After a disaster, it’s too late to make a plan to help others. Here’s what I learned to be ready for the next one. by Kim Reinecker, MAS By the time Harvey had exhaled, the stormhad dumped more than 60 inches of rain on the region over a six-day period. Despite an intricate waterway system in the U.S.’s fourth largest city (Houston is called the Bayou City), no one in the Houston area was really prepared for the floodwaters that followed. Industry companies donated more than 200 skids of products to Houston-area storm victims. 22 | APRIL 2018 | INNOVATE