In a recent article for The Texas Tribune, Erin Douglas writes that “Tens of thousands of coastal Texas residents have survived repeated extreme weather events, including Hurricane Harvey. For many, it has taken an emotional toll, and researchers warn that climate change could be ‘catastrophic’ for our mental health.”
As the signs of climate change become more apparent in our East Texas communities, it is critical that we share resources to help us stay informed, learn how to better respond to emergencies, and adapt to new circumstances. Our Resource Library is constantly being updated and contains guides on how to handle extreme weather events, with information on preparedness, safety, and recovery.
Disaster Relief Initiatives
When disaster strikes on the Texas Gulf Coast, first responders like law enforcement officers, paramedics, EMT’s, firefighters, the National Guard, and countless other volunteers rush in to address the emergency at hand. Shortly after, second responders restore utilities and wireless communications; clean up hazardous waste; clear roads; and provide resources like shelter, food, social services, and more, to begin rehabilitating communities. Next are the third responders, who come in for the long haul to help rebuild communities, solve legal problems, tear down barriers, confront injustices, and provide hope.
In recent years, Lone Star Legal Aid has helped survivors recover from natural disasters like Tropical Storm Allison (2001), Hurricanes Katrina (2005), Rita (2005), Ike (2008), and Harvey (2017), Winter Storm Uri (2021) and even the Memorial Day (2015) and Tax Day (2016) Floods. Even though many of our staff members were survivors of these storms, we began our response operations before the skies even cleared. These catastrophic events prompted a series of changes, and prompted us to take matters into our own hands.
After Katrina and Rita, we redesigned our intake system to align with our case management system to make it easier for clients to access legal experts in all fields of poverty law. As a result, all of our staff and pro bono volunteers are prepared to advise and handle public benefits like food stamps and health care, as well as FEMA, education, family, and housing issues for survivors of natural disasters.
Prior to Ike, we closed more than 10,000 hurricane cases and provided general legal information to over 50,000 people directly affected by Katrina and Rita. In less than one month after Ike’s landfall, we distributed more than 50,000 English, Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese individuals important recovery legal information packets, remarkably surpassing in just three weeks the general legal information provided post-Katrina and Rita. We now have a strategic communications and outreach plan that is enacted upon the anticipation and arrival of a devastating weather event or other disaster like the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic.
Climate change, and its toll on mental health, are arguably one of the more pressing issues of our time. Here at Lone Star Legal Aid, we care deeply about our client community and do everything within our power to enhance your well-being. Here are some basic tips on how to ease your climate anxiety.
- Prepare for extreme weather events;
- Read about the work our Environmental Justice Initiative is doing to combat environmental hazards;
- Report environmental hazards in your community; and
- Know that first, second, and third responders are here to help.
Lone Star Legal Aid (LSLA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit law firm focused on advocacy for low-income and underserved populations by providing free legal education, advice, and representation. LSLA serves millions of people at 125% of federal poverty guidelines who reside in 72 counties in the eastern and Gulf Coast regions of Texas and 4 counties in Southwest Arkansas. LSLA focuses its resources on maintaining, enhancing, and protecting income and economic stability; preserving housing; improving outcomes for children; establishing and sustaining family safety, stability, health, and wellbeing; and assisting populations with special vulnerabilities, like those with disabilities, the aging, survivors of crime and disasters, the unemployed and underemployed, the unhoused, those with limited English language skills, and the LGBTQIA+ community. To learn more about Lone Star Legal Aid, visit our website at www.lonestarlegal.org.
Media contact: media@lonestarlegal.org
