Looking to help in light of the recent natural disasters? We’ve got a couple of volunteer experiences that need your hands and bodies.

DeSales Media, parent company of the Tablet and NET-TV, is coordinating a Catholics Care response to the devastation of Hurricane Harvey in Texas. In partnership with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, the Diocese of Brooklyn is organizing a mission trip to Houston to help hurricane victims. The volunteer project to clean out homes for repair will take place between Nov. 12 and 18.

Directors here at DeSales are busy setting up the logistics. Housing already has been secured. Food donations are being solicited. Transportation (either airplane or bus) is being set up.

Volunteers will be required to supply a doctor’s note, stating that they are healthy enough to do manual labor. Background checks will be done on each individual.

Of course, DeSales Media personnel will be taking part and video taping the entire project for broadcast on NET-TV and publication in The Tablet.

This trip is not for the faint-hearted. In addition to the work, volunteers are going to get a firsthand look at the ravages of the storm and the suffering that a lot of Americans have endured.

Father Patrick Keating from our own Brooklyn Catholic Charities is just back from Texas where he saw up close and personal some of the projects that Catholic Charities is planning there. He applauded the Catholics Care initiative and has put DeSales in touch with people on the ground in Texas.

All names must be submitted by Oct. 25 so that the proper vetting can be done. If you’re interested in going to Texas, email catholicscare@desalesmedia.org and let us know.

Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens also has been coordinating relief efforts in the diocese to send supplies to the inhabitants of Puerto Rico who were decimated by Hurricane Maria. Local parishes have been collecting material goods (canned food, sanitary and cleaning products, but no clothes) that will be shipped to the Caribbean island through the generosity of Jet Blue airlines.

Catholic Charities needs help with picking up the donations at parishes and transporting them to the Immaculate Conception Center, Douglaston, the central clearing site before shipment to Kennedy Airport on Oct. 20.

Volunteers are also needed to sort through the donations and prepare them for shipment. Bags of rice, cans of beans, bottled water, children’s diapers, and packages of toilet paper are piling up in the inner handball courts at the Douglaston site. Your hands can play a significant role in getting these goods sorted and prepared for shipping.

Even the senior priests who live at the Bishop Mugavero Residence in Douglaston took up a collection so that batteries and flashlights could be purchased and readied for shipment.

This is a huge logistical project and everyone with the time to spare is urged to call Richard Slizeski’s office at 718-722-6115.