Repository for JW "experiences" with Hurricane Harvey

by sir82 36 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  GrreatTeacher

  When our house was damaged by hurricane Sandy, an adjustor came out to appraise the damage and we got a check a few days later.

  We chose our own contractor, but the insurance company didn't want receipts or proof that the work was sound. They wrote the check and washed their hand of it.

  We could've just patched the roof and pocketed the excess money, but we replaced the roof and did the other related work the right way.

  I can't imagine people just getting a patch, a lick and a promise, and then donating the entire check amount.

  Please tell me people don't actually do that.
• 

  LV101

  undercover -- I agree - many JWs are exemplary in their work. I had a JW accomplished seamstress and haven't found anyone else half as good. She was not only excellent but one of the best people I've ever met. She was no hypocrite and didn't click with the hall clique even though her husband was the PO. We have a medical specialist (JW) and he's in the top 2% of the country for his field - not because he fell into the religion but he was top in medical school and wouldn't do his profession any way other than great. It's his character, DNA.

  I do get what you're saying. I think the construction world brings out the worse in their trade although I hear it's like this everywhere/every field today. Good work ethics are rare.
• 

  eyeuse2badub

  There is a giant difference in helping the jw's in 3rd world countries when they experience a catastrophe and jw's in an industrialized country like the usa. 3rd world residents are usually ecstatic just to have a roof put back over their heads and enough to eat. Usually those poor people in 3rd world countries end up with a better place to live if their shack is destroyed. So in those countries, 'volunteer' workers are more than sufficient.

  More affluent countries where jw's live expect much more when a catastrophe strikes and the clean up and rebuild begins. I've been to Houston and I know jw's around there. Many live in very luxurious homes so I don't think they will be welcoming 'volunteers' to repair and rebuild their homes.

  just saying!
• 

  joe134cd

  I feel unless watchtower was prepared to help those truly in need (e.g those with out insurance) then they never should of got involved in disaster relief.
• 

  sir82

  I can't imagine people just getting a patch, a lick and a promise, and then donating the entire check amount.

  Please tell me people don't actually do that.

  LOL!

  "But it's the brothers....spiritual paradise....this is how Jehovah cares for us....all the experience gained in quick builds,,,,yabba dabba doo argle bargle....."
  
• 

  FedUpJW

  "A city official was overheard saying that 'only you people give evidence of being Gods true people'" But of course no name will be provided to prove this.

  What is all of us that are still fading for whatever reasons were to begin emailing this to all the brothers/sisters we still have contact with, with some gushing words of wonderment about how wonderful the "spiritual paradise" is?

  Then sit back and see how long it takes to get a life of it's own, maybe even show up on an ASSembly?
  
• 

  darkspilver

  A number of pictures have been released by Getty Images for editorial use, including the following:

  
  

  Description: Members of Jehovah's Witnesses help a friend clean up their home after flood water inundated it, as the family begins the process of rebuilding after torrential rains caused widespread flooding during Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey on September 2, 2017 in Houston, Texas. Harvey, which made landfall north of Corpus Christi on August 25, dumped around 50 inches of rain in and around areas of Houston and Southeast Texas.

  Photo 1: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/841855926

  Photo 2: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/841855968

  Photo 3: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/841855934

  The pictures are starting to appear in the media now - including for example
  

  Minnesota Public Radio: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/09/02/postharvey-problems-plague-texas-as-funerals-for-dead-begin

  CBS Denver: http://denver.cbslocal.com/2017/09/02/superfund-sites-houston-harvey/
  
  
  
  
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  Grreat Teacher: I can't imagine people just getting a patch, a lick and a promise, and then donating the entire check amount.

  Please tell me people don't actually do that.
  
  Yes. To be fair, for the most part, JW volunteers are organized by professionals when it comes to roof repair and the like. So the work is typically not just a "lick and a promise." But there is no guarantee that it is up to building code and the insurance money is supposed to be used to put it back up to the quality (or better than) it was before the damage. And again, you will have little choice in the style, color, quality of the building materials.
  
  And sometimes, it will be just the lick and a promise. I saw JW's after Hurricane Hugo leaving tarps on their roof for a year because they said that was good enough to stop the rain. And they spent the insurance money on bills instead of the roof.
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  I am passionate about this because it has so deeply affected me.
  Hurricane Hugo in South Carolina was a chance for individual JW's to show their love and compassion. I lived there and lost my car to a tree falling on it, and the trailer I rented fell off it's blocks. There was no "approved brothers" requirement and no "money-only" request at the time.

  JW's came with chain saws and power tools and lumber and clothing and food. Some JW's from North Carolina donated an older car to me, and I drove it for years. I had a cabinet full of canned goods. And the "ear-marked" money donated to WTS was in excess because most volunteers brought their building supplies or bought them with the cash from passing the hat. So the excess- they asked any if they were out of work or otherwise lost revenue and valuables. I was given a check for approximately 2 weeks worth of work. They had to spend it on the disaster, as it was ear-marked. There was no asking victims for their insurance money.

  I went to Hurricane Andrew relief and it was similar, but WTS started buying the building material and organizing the work load. Still, it seemed a good idea. But after that disaster, I could tell that things were different and they went too far. DO NOT DONATE CLOTHING AND FOOD AND CARS AND STUFF. That was too far.
  ONLY APPROVED BROTHERS WILL GO IN AND HELP. I think JW's go in anyway without that process, but then they have to face the wrath of not showing love the Watchtower way.
• 

  darkspilver

  This is a web-only article
  

  
  'It's dry as far as you can see': downtown Houston shows signs of recovery
  

  The Guardian (web only) Thursday, August 31, 2017

  The catastrophe isn’t over, but as the city’s downtown starts to dry residents are cautiously optimistic: ‘This feels like the start of getting back to normal’

  When you approached the George R Brown convention centre, which since Sunday has sheltered about a third of the city’s 30,000 displaced people, the first impression was of disarray.

  Hundreds of people milled outside, some with bulging sacks. But they were not, it turned out, waiting to get in. They were waiting to go home, or to the homes of relatives.
  

  ...

  Outside the convention centre a pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses offered passers-by a booklet titled “Does God really care about us?”

  A shirtless Bob Marley fan answered the question, in a way, by striding up and down the sidewalk, shouting a mantra: “The rasta say everything’s gonna be all right.”

  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/30/hurricane-harvey-recovery-downtown-houston-texas