Editorial

In Matthew’s wake, give to the Red Cross

Posted

Hurricane Matthew rolled across Haiti last week as a Category 4 hurricane, with maximum wind gusts of up to 156 miles per hour. This monster storm killed more than 1,000 people, left tens of thousands more homeless and fueled a new outbreak of cholera in this tiny, impoverished island nation.

And Matthew was just getting started.

The hurricane went on to slam into central and northern Florida, its 5-foot-plus storm surge inundating low-lying areas with saltwater up and down the coast. It then made its way over Georgia and the Carolinas before drifting out into the Atlantic Ocean as a Category 1 hurricane.

On Long Island’s South Shore, we know all too well the hardship that Matthew’s victims are enduring. We survived Superstorm Sandy by the skin of our teen.

Whole communities across Haiti and the South were ravaged, their infrastructure torn apart. We can feel the pain. We remember our own.

For those with the means, please consider giving to the Red Cross, which housed thousands in emergency shelters after Sandy. The organization is currently caring for more than 27,000 people in emergency shelters in Matthew’s wake. Some 1,800 Red Cross workers have been called to the disaster zone. That costs a lot of money.

To give, go to www.redcross.org.