By Bob Lambrechts
Special to The Leaven
LENEXA — Hurricane Helene made landfall on the evening of Sept. 26, as a Category 4 hurricane. It quickly became the strongest hurricane on record to hit Florida’s Big Bend region before moving rapidly across Georgia, the Carolinas and eastern Tennessee.
The storm then dropped record rainfall on several states, causing devastating flooding, particularly in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Busick, North Carolina, for example, received over 31 inches in just three days. There have been at least 227 fatalities as a result of the storm and widespread power outages across the southeast affected as many as 1.2 million people.
Since 2020, Heart to Heart International, a nonprofit disaster relief and community health-focused organization located in Lenexa, has delivered aid to 15 Catholic partners, consisting of 88 shipments to eight countries and seven states.
This aid included hygiene kits, medications, consumable medical supplies, medical equipment, scrubs, blankets and formula. The total shipped weight exceeded 783,000 pounds and had a value of nearly $278 million.
The Catholic partners to which aid has been provided, among others, included Catholic Charities of Minnesota; Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas; and Catholic Charities of Kansas City – St. Joseph.
In response to Helene, Heart to Heart International has deployed 15 volunteer doctors, nurses and logistics personnel to Haywood County, North Carolina, at the request of the local health department to support the especially at-risk population. Along with the deployment of these 15 volunteers, Heart to Heart International also deployed the nonprofit’s large Mobile Medical Unit and Mobile Medical Van, both of which were funded by corporate donations.
The Mobile Medical Unit offers private, temperature-controlled clinic spaces with a well-stocked pharmacy, filling a crucial health care gap where local infrastructure has been severely damaged.
Responding nationally and internationally to disaster scenarios just like Helene is what drove the founding of Heart to Heart International by a group of Olathe Rotarians. As a Heart to Heart International board member for nine years, I discovered how this leanly operated nonprofit punches well above its weight when it comes to responding to disasters such as that delivered by Helene.
One of the key elements of disaster response is the distribution of hygiene kits. When people are forced out of their homes during a sudden onset disaster, they don’t think about packing small items like toothpaste or a toothbrush. Hygiene kits become important for people’s recovery, even for their survival, as the kits serve as the first line of defense against the spread of illness.
Hygiene kits often include travel-sized items (e.g., toiletries) stored in sealable plastic bags, which aid in protecting items from water and make them easier for charities to distribute to people in need. Heart to Heart International has enlisted the ongoing support of thousands of volunteers in the Kansas City area to participate in the regularly scheduled production of these hygiene kits for delivery worldwide in response to natural disasters and armed conflict.
As of this writing, Heart to Heart International has shipped 26,775 kits to Heart to Heart International partners that are responding to Helene. Catholic Charities is one of those valued partners and is receiving 1,350 kits at the Diocese of Venice, Florida, and more if requested.
The nonprofit expects to ship tens of thousands more kits in the days and weeks ahead. Heart to Heart International’s deployment in North Carolina demonstrates a rapid, coordinated response to an immediate crisis. Heart to Heart International is very adept at leveraging its 32 years of disaster response expertise, having provided over $3 billion in medical aid worldwide since its founding.
While Heart to Heart International’s dedicated staff have developed their own internal procedures for responding to disasters, the nonprofit after years of extensive preparation was certified in 2023 by the World Health Organization as an Emergency Medical Team Type 1 Mobile capable of providing outpatient initial emergency care of injuries and other significant health care needs. Heart to Heart International is one of only four organizations in the United States to receive this certification. This classification signifies Heart to Heart International’s ability to respond swiftly and efficiently, providing vital medical services after disasters and crises worldwide.
As the states devastated by Hurricane Helene face formidable obstacles to recovery, Catholics continue to remain firm in their commitment to providing hope, compassion and assistance to those in need. That active compassion spoken of by Pope Francis in his 2023 apostolic exhortation “Laudate Deum” will be sorely needed as we continue to face the increasing number of natural disasters to come.
To learn more about Heart to Heart International or to donate, go to its website at: hearttoheart.org. You can also contact the organization by phone at (913) 764-5200 or by mail at 11550 Renner Blvd., Lenexa, KS 66219.
Bob Lambrechts served on the board of Heart to Heart International from 2011 to 2019 and currently serves on the board of the Heart to Heart International Foundation. He and his wife are parishioners of Church of the Nativity in Leawood.
