Gift Cards Being Collected To Help With Hurricane Harvey Relief Efforts

The entire team, here at Canadian POS Corporation, would like to send our best wishes and express our deepest sympathies to everyone being affected by Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas. We can only imagine the amount of devastation the hurricane has caused – not just in the literal sense, but by way of the ways in which people’s lives have been forever changed. We sincerely hope for a speedy return to comfort and safety for all involved.

We were happy to learn, this morning, that the people of New Orleans are reaching out to help the people of Houston in a special way. Interestingly, the Louisiana city is marking the 12-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. It is not lost on these charitable individuals that 12 years ago, the people of Houston reached out to do their part in assisting with relief efforts in New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina was famously devastating.

All day today, several restaurants across New Orleans will be accepting gift cards during their normal operating hours. On the ABC affiliate website WGNO.com, Anne Cutler reveals that a group of New Orleans restaurateurs and others in the hospitality community are holding the gift card drive to support those who have been affected by Hurricane Harvey.

“Donated cards will go to families of restaurant and service industry workers in the Houston area, to assist in their recovery,” reports Cutler, “Gift cards are encouraged from Visa or American Express, as well as specialty stores such as Target, Wal Mart, Home Depot, Loews, Bed Bath and Beyond, Rite Aid and/or CVS.”

It is intended for the gift cards to be delivered to Houston this coming weekend. But that is not all the people of New Orleans are doing to help out their Texas neighbours. “Additional efforts are being coordinated by members of the New Orleans hospitality community to provide ‘boots on the ground’ support in affected areas,” Cutler informs.

We applaud the efforts of the restaurant owners and service industry professionals in New Orleans for their kindness. We’re quite proud of the fact that they’ve recognized gift cards as ideal ways to help support those who are in need. Quite obviously, it’s hard to ascertain exactly what all of the needs of those who have been displaced by Hurricane Harvey will be.

Naturally, many Houston residents will be in need of clothes, food and numerous other necessities. However, everyone’s needs are different. Offering gift cards is the perfect way to help the people of Houston get exactly what they need in order to help bring back some normalcy to their lives.

As expected, Canada is also doing its part to help with the relief efforts in Houston. And you can be part of that help! The Canadian Red Cross is accepting financial donations on their website. “The threat from Hurricane Harvey is far from over as extremely dangerous flooding continues in Texas and parts of Louisiana,” the site informs, “Money raised will enable the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from this disaster.”

We encourage all Canadians to give what they can.