Natural disasters don't discriminate across class, racial, or party lines, as evidenced by the tragedy that befell Texas and Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, which took the lives of at least 60 people and displaced hundreds of thousands more.
This week, the Senate passed a $15.3 billion aid package to help those impacted by the devastating hurricane and flooding, and both House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader worked with President Donald Trump to raise the debt ceiling until December 15 to ensure funds were available for relief. Though these are great first steps, Harvey's victims are in dire need of additional assistance.
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To help bring Americans together, five former presidents — Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and George H.W. Bush — teamed up to create One America Appeal to "encourage their fellow citizens to support recovery efforts."
Each of the former leaders took a turn speaking, and Clinton kicked off the video by saying that while Harvey "brought terrible destruction...it also brought out the best in humanity."
Obama and Carter chimed in and said that "we wanted to help our fellow Americans begin to recover," and "our friends in Texas, including Presidents Bush 41 and 43, are doing just that," respectively.
"People are hurting down here, but as one Texan put it, 'We have more love in Texas than water,'" Bush Jr. said. "We love you, Texas," George. H.W. added.
The Hollywood Reporter notes all of the donations will go to the Houston Harvey Relief Fund and to the Rebuild Texas Fund. The money will go into a special account at the George H.W. Bush Foundation "to ensure 100 cents out of every dollar donated goes to hurricane victims," according to the official One America Appeal website.
One America Appeal will also raise funds to assist Americans affected by Hurricane Irma.