Now is the time.

Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana.  Federal and other resources already strained.

Hurricane Irma hurtling toward Florida.

Hurricane Katia (currently Category 2) just off the eastern coast of Mexico.

Hurricane Jose (currently Category 4) not far from Montserrat, Barbados, and Dominica and headed toward the north northwest.

A massive 8.2-magnitude earthquake off the southern coast of Mexico.

If you were thinking about making a donation to relief efforts after Harvey, please do so now.  Here’s a good place, with no overhead charges:

LDS Humanitarian Services

And, of course, there are many other places.

You will feel good about it.  I promise.  You will feel that, whatever else you might or might not accomplish today, you’ve done something very worthwhile.

Even if all you can manage is five dollars.

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“If you can’t feed a hundred people, feed just one.”  (St. Teresa of Calcutta [aka Mother Teresa])

“Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.”  (Mahatma Gandhi)

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Can we make a difference?  Yes, we can.

Consider this report right out of Houston:

“We will never forget the charity of the Mormons.”

And this:

“Mormon Helping Hands Lifts Hearts in Wind Damaged South Texas”

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“Church Releases Statement on Hurricane Irma”

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“Church Issues Statement on Mexico Earthquake”

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In the meantime, one occasionally hears a really silly claim made about disasters like Hurricane Harvey.  Here’s a response to it:

“No, Hurricanes Are Not Good for the Economy”

Now, obviously, a catastrophe might benefit certain sectors of the economy.  A flu epidemic, for instance, might put extra money in the pockets of drug manufactures.  Arms manufacturers would be in serious straits if there were never any wars.  But, on the whole, epidemics and earthquakes and wars and hurricanes are net drains on economies and represent net losses — often very large losses — of wealth.  I saw a figure just an hour or two ago, for example, suggesting that Hurricane Harvey will ultimately have removed at least seventy billion dollars from the American economy.  To say nothing of the lives blighted and lost.

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“Love is one of the chief characteristics of Deity, and ought to be manifested by those who aspire to be the sons of God.  A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race.”

Joseph Smith

[History of the Church, 4:227; from a letter to the Twelve dated 15 December 1840, Nauvoo, Illinois, published in Times and Seasons, 1 January 1841, page 258; the letter is incorrectly dated 19 October 1840 in History of the Church.]