A little bit of my heart is in Houston. It was the first city I lived in all on my own with my own big girl apartment and my own big girl job. I moved to Houston after college to be close to friends. Not because I had a job offer; I found that later. I literally moved there because that’s where my best friends were going after graduation. It may not have been the most thoughtful or wise decision, but I don’t regret it for a single second. 

I have so many fond memories of Houston. It is where I had my first date with my husband. Our second was at a Houston Astro’s game. It is where I lived with two of my bestest friends. Where one of those friends met her husband, and where the other one lives to this day. 

Actually, the very first place I lived in Houston was in my friend’s parent’s spare room. Without asking any questions, or telling me how long I could stay, they put me up until I found my own apartment. 

Houston may get a bad rap thanks to the weather, but its a beautiful city filled with beautiful people. 

It’s also a BIG city. And I mean BIG. It’s not only the 4th largest city in the country in terms of population, it just downright takes up a ton of space. The entire metro area is over 8,000 square miles big! 

When you hear about how much money it is going to cost to rebuild the city after hurricane Harvey (it’s billions with a B), that’s half of the equation. There is just so much to rebuild. 

One of my not so fond memories of Houston was hunkering down during Ike, a hurricane that went right over the city. While there was a lot of wind damage, the flooding and total damage wasn’t nearly as bad as hurricane Harvey. Even then, I remember windows in the sky rises along highway 59 were boarded up for months afterwards. It took a friend of mine 2 weeks to get a tree removed from his living room and even longer to get his wall fixed. And Harvey is supposed to be at least 10 times worse. 

I recently heard that the FEMA can’t even afford to make these people whole again. Some of them have lost their entire homes, their lives. And between FEMA and their insurance, they probably won’t receive enough to start over. 

Which is why we need to help. If you don’t know where to start, here is an exhaustive list of 50 charities, organizations, foundations, etc. you can donate to. I promise, no matter how big or small, your donation will make a difference.

• AARP Foundation
• Airbnb
• American Red Cross
• All Hands Volunteers 
• Americares
• ASPCA
• Best Friends Animal Society
• Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
• Child Foundation
• Children’s Hunger Fund
• Coalition for the Homeless
• Convoy of Hope
• Delivering Good
• Direct Relief
• DonorsChoose.org
• Episcopal Relief & Development
• Feeding America
• First Book
• GlobalGiving
• Go Fund Me 
• Habitat for Horses
• Habitat for Humanity
• Heart to Heart International
• Houston Food Bank
• Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund
• International Orthodox Christian Charities
• International Relief Teams
• Islamic Relief USA
• Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago
• MAP International
• Matthew 25: Ministries
• Medical Teams International
• MedShare
• Operation Blessing International
• Operation USA
• Portlight Inclusive Disaster Relief
• Samaritan’s Purse
• Save the Children
• SBP
• ShelterBox USA
• Small Steps Nurturing Center
• Star of Hope Mission
• Southeast Texas Food Bank
• Texas Diaper Bank
• The ALS Association, National Office
• The Center for Disaster Philanthropy
• The Zakat Foundation of America
• UJA-Federation of New York
• United Way of Greater Houston
• World Vision
• YMCA of Greater Houston

I know Houston will rebuild. It has done it before and it will do it again. It could just use a little help along the way.