By now, I’m sure you’ve read about the devastation in Türkiye[fn1] and Syria. As of this writing, there are at least 7,700 dead in those two countries, a number widely expected to rise. In Türkiye alone, more than 6,000 buildings have collapsed, leaving an estimated 150,000 without homes. At least two UNESCO World Heritage sites, one in each country, have sustained significant damage.
In response to this utter devastation, the world has stepped up. The UN has dispatched aid teams. The EU, several European countries, the US, South Korea, Israel, Russia, Algeria, UAE, and Iraq (among others) have all sent or pledged aid.
This international governmental response is critical. But governments aren’t acting alone here: many nonprofit and charitable organizations are also providing money, tents, warmth, medicine, and other critically-needed aid. (I wrote a little about the nonprofit response, as well as some questions around nonprofit aid, here.)
Among the nonprofits pledging aid? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Europe Central Area Presidency wrote, among other things, that the church “is currently reaching out to other relief organisations, both globally and in-country, to offer assistance.”
This is the right response: while the church has the ability to mobilize people to help with disaster relief, especially through its Mormon Helping Hands (or maybe Helping Hands? the website includes both names) program, I suspect that in this case, having untrained volunteers come in would be dangerous to the volunteers and get in the way of trained relief providers.
And outside of mobilizing volunteers, the church doesn’t have specific expertise in disaster relief. I suspect the church will ultimately ship food, clothing, and other necessities. And it will provide funding to organizations ready to provide aid.
Which is a model for us. Because the people impacted by the earthquake are our neighbors. They need our help. And how can we help them?
Mostly we can donate money. And certainly we can donate it to the church’s Humanitarian Aid Fund. But the Humanitarian Aid Fund will turn around and give it to other organizations.
The thing is, we can do that too. It takes a little work—we have to research and find an organization (or organizations) that we trust. But it’s work that we can do. And when we donate to those organizations, we establish relationships. We’ll get mailings and emails. Those mailings and emails will ask for more money, of course, but they’ll also let us see what charitable activities these groups are engaged in. We’ll see the need in the world, but we’ll also see the good.[fn2] And we’ll meet our obligation to each other.
And who to donate to? If you have charities that you’ve donated to in the past, charities that you trust and have a relationship with, I’d go there. If not, this article provides at least a starting point. (I really like Doctors Without Borders and UNICEF, and, as an employee of a Jesuit law school, I’m inclined to think Jesuit Refugee Service is a good organization. But I’m impressed by all of the charities listed here that I’m familiar with.)
[fn1] I just learned, from this Deseret News article, that this is the country’s preferred spelling of its name. The State Department has started using this spelling in formal settings.
[fn2] As a side note: I talked about this in my Nonprofits class today, but the best thing we can do is find an organization we like and trust and give them unrestricted funds. While immediate disaster relief is critical, once we get past the short-term, there will be continued needs. People don’t just need tents and thermal clothing: they need rebuilt infrastructure. They may need long-term medical care. They need a place to live. They may need new job training. Our neighbors’ needs don’t end just because the immediate disaster has been averted.
Even better is getting on an automatic donation plan. That provides a relief organization with money that they need now, but it also provides them with a predictable stream of revenue that they can count on as they do both disaster relief and prevention. Because people don’t just need aid when a magnitude 7.5 earthquake strikes. But the smaller needs are less salient, and may not engender the same level of worldwide resource mobilization.