10+ Great Items To Donate After A Hurricane

If you’re on the opposite end, if you’re the one who is getting hit with the hurricane, be sure to check out our How To Prepare For A Hurricane Guide to assure you have everything ready in case a natural disaster comes your way this season.

Bug spray

It’s impossible for me to explain to you how big post-hurricane mosquitoes are. Mosquitoes breed in standing water and there’s so much of it around after a storm. The first day we cleaned up the trees that had fallen, I went out in long sleeves and leggings so my skin would be covered. It didn’t matter. After 30 minutes, I ended up with 28 mosquito bites — on one leg.

The mosquitoes are so bad that our county actually called in FEMA to help spray. Twice. But that doesn’t really help. The trucks that spray kill the mosquitoes in the front of people’s property, where the spray hits, but it does nothing for the larvae in backyards. On a regular basis, we use mosquitos dunks to add to standing water. That kills the larvae, which makes such a difference.

And, it takes FEMA forever to come out, unfortunately, so in that time, the standing water doesn’t have time to evaporate. So there are more mosquitoes. It’s a mess. An itchy, awful mess.

So bug spray is an incredible thing to donate. Mosquito dunks are great too.

Tarps

Rood damage is so common after storms. So many people in disaster areas lose shingles, which exposed the roof. And then, it rains hard for days during the hurricane, and water gets into homes. For the lucky ones, it’s just a little water damage. For others, it cause mold (which is a whole different issue).

People need tarps to place over the holes in their roofs. But with so many homes with damage, and so many stores closed because of the storm, tarps are hard to find during disaster recovery. So look into purchasing and donating tarps to those in need.

Waffle House gift cards

Waffle House is basically FEMA during an emergency. Waffle House will stay open to make sure people have shelter and food and electricity. Honestly, I don’t know how they do it.

We actually were out helping a friend who was in an emergency situation after a hurricane here. We had rushed out before dinner, and by 8 pm, we were starving. We found the closest Waffle House and had dinner. It was a limited menu, and was take out only, but the food was hot and that was perfect.

I’m not sure how Waffle House is during the daytime in an emergency, because we didn’t go, but even a limited hot meal is amazing during a tragedy. Most everything else will be closed, so a gift card to Waffle House is a great idea.

Diapers and formula

This doesn’t apply to us, so I never think about donating baby items, even when I’m just donating to church or a food pantry. But after the hurricane, the radio kept reminding us that there was an urgent need for diapers and formula in our area.

Both items are really expensive, so I can see why people don’t donate them often. But, there are babies who are displaced with their families in the wake of natural disasters, and not all babies are breastfed and cloth diapered. So they need diapers and formula and lots of it.

Storage bags

When essential supplies are divided up, so many storage bags are used. It’s just easier to organize and distribute that way. But that means that lots of storage bags are needed.

If you want to donate them, pick up the clear, plastic bags with the zip close top. That’s what they asked for in our area. The ones with twist ties, or even with the snap and seal, aren’t as easy for the volunteers who are dividing up the supplies.

Laundry detergent

Clean up after a hurricane is so gross. You just want to peel off your clothes and throw them in the trash sometimes. You’re covered in tree sap or pine needles or mold or sweat. And then there’s the chance that so much of your clothes, bedding, curtains, etc. were covered in water.

So you have to do laundry. Lots of laundry.

Or, honestly, you might be without electricity or without a home and cannot do laundry. Companies like Tide came in to our area and allowed people to drop off two loads of laundry. Tide would then wash, dry, and fold the laundry and text when it was done. That was a great way to get the worst of the worst done.

When you have to do it on your own, though, it takes a lot of loads and a lot of detergent to get back to normal. So a donation of laundry detergent is a huge help.

Gift cards for tree services

This is probably only if you’re rich, and only if you are donating to a friend. But I’ll put this down anyway because it’s a big need.

So many trees fell down in our backyard. One fell from the house behind us on to our property, so our back neighbor came over to ask if we wanted to split the cost of the tree. He asked, honestly, because it can cost a couple thousand dollars (like sometimes over $2,000 a tree). That’s so much money.

Of course, you’re not going to donate $2,000 to strangers, but maybe you can call a tree service company and work something out where they take $25 off the next estimate. Every little bit helps.

Solar battery chargers

When we were driving after the hurricane, our house still didn’t have power. We were doing everything we could in the car because we could charge our phones and electronics there. It would be fine to be without a laptop for a few days, but no phone would make it hard to keep in touch with worried family.

During that time, I was scrolling through Facebook and saw a friend post about a solar battery charger. So smart! I ordered one right from the car.

We charge this every time there’s the threat of a hurricane in our area, but actually, since it’s solar, we can charge it anytime. So, if you have the means, these are great to donate.

Grocery store gift cards

You usually know the hurricane is coming. That’s true. But, when Hurricane Florence hit out area, we had plans to leave on Wednesday after dinner, and instead ended up evacuating Tuesday morning before breakfast. So that’s six meals we had ingredients for that we left behind.

People lost homes, valuables, memories, possessions. We lost a garbage bag full of condiments and expensive Japanese sauces and another bag of perishables. And then everything in our freezer. And some people around here hunt, then freeze the meat to feed their families in the off season. All that food was gone.

So if you want to help people get on their feet, get them grocery store gift cards and let them fill their fridge. Don’t assume you know what people like to eat and donate boxes of pasta and jars of sauce to those in need. Us? We always have tons of marinara sauce. What we didn’t have was gyoza sauce. Or mayo. Or sliced cheese.

Rakes

We had about a foot of pine needles to rake after Hurricane Florence. Well, a foot for Pete to rake. He handled that part of the clean up.

He used a leaf blower for much of it, but then the blower ran out of gas. And gas is hard to come by when you’re in the aftermath of a disaster. So he had to use a rake for the rest.

And it doesn’t sound bad. He was raking pine needles. But there were so many pine needles, and they were so heavy from the rain, our rake actually broke. We were able to borrow one from my parents to finish clean up, but for those who don’t have family nearby, a rake donation would help them so much.

Gas station gift cards

We left New York, where we were during the hurricane, on a Saturday and didn’t get back to North Carolina until Monday. That’s a lot of driving.

Luckily, my dad drove, which means we used my parents’ gas. We had to stop a few more times than usual, and we drove in a roundabout way, so it took more gas than usual.

That happened to so many of our friends. They evacuated to safety and then had to drive back via an out of the way path. So many roads were closed, so a direct path was impossible.

For people living paycheck to paycheck, this extra gas is an unneeded expense. A gas card to help offset that is a huge help.

A massage

Okay, this is a silly one, but this is what I wanted. 

Hurricanes stress people out. And then, when it’s gone, there’s so much yard work to do. 

So a gift certificate for a massage is great. Definitely only offer this to someone you know and definitely don’t offer to do it yourself (because eww).

What Not To Donate After A Hurricane:

Bottled water

There are memes that go around before every catastrophe mocking people buying all the bread and milk. And stores sell out of bottled water.

But here’s the thing. They tell you to stock up with a gallon of water, per person or pet, for three days. What they don’t tell you is you could return to a boil advisory, which means the water is unsafe to consume unless you boil it.

So you think donating water is a good idea, but it’s not the best use of your money.

Clean water is usually brought in at the behest of the local government and relief workers help distribute it at local distribution centers. And those community organizations already know the most efficient way to distribute those items. So, it’s actually taken care of.

If you donate some, it will take up a lot of space in a donation center, which may not actually have enough space to store it. Cases of water also heavy, so it’s hard to send them where they need to go.

If you’re donating to a local food pantry, bottled water is good. But if you’re not donating locally, it’s not your best choice.

Stuffed animals

There was a news story recently where a church was handing out blessings bags to those who were in need after the hurricane. And, in them, there were small stuffed animals for the kids.

It broke my heart.

You don’t know what their home is like. It could be completely destroyed. And a kid may not understand that. Young kids may not really understand much of what’s going on. So a small toy can be a huge comfort.

But, I also read something where tens of thousands of teddy bears get donated after tragedies. And that’s just too many to distribute. So, as much as it breaks your heart to think of kids without stuffed animals, your donation money will be better spent on other items.

Canned goods (or any food)

If you’re donating to your local church or food pantry, non-perishable food is a great donation item. But, if you’re donating somewhere that’s shipping to a location dealing with disaster relief, food isn’t the best idea. The food items need to be sorted, then checked to see if anything is expired, then someone has to make sure it’s not a health risk.

You’re trying to do a good thing, but food donations overwhelm the volunteers in the affected area.

And sometimes, like when Hurricane Matthew happened here in 2016, shelters aren’t able to accept donations of food (see more here). People were encouraged to make monetary donations or to donate to local food banks.