2nd Opinion: Hurricane relief arrives for Texas taxpayers

Posted: 11/04/05

2nd Opinion:
Hurricane relief arrives for Texas taxpayers

By Brian Burton

My job the past nine years as executive director of a faith-based poverty-relief center in Dallas has brought much human misery before my eyes. But nothing in my prior work experience prepared me for the intense, layered trauma of the Hurricane Katrina victims.

Throughout September, I volunteered alongside other social workers and counselors at the Dallas Convention Center. In the milieu of 8,000 dazed survivors, our team did our best to offer listening ears, reassurance, housing referrals and connections to local resources.

Clarice, a distressed, tiny-boned elderly woman, sat across from me while I tried to help. Burying her face in her hands, she mumbled over and over, “I don't know this place.” Unable to console her, I turned to my friend Jan Mitura, who was able to track down the woman's granddaughter at a Houston shelter. Clarice's relieved eyes turned to mine as she said: “That's my grandbaby. She's my diamond.”

As Jan worked to reunite them, a middle-aged gentleman walked up to me looking lost. Squinting as though blocking out a glare, Pablo said he could not see after he lost his glasses at the Superdome. I randomly dialed an optometrist out of the phone book. Minutes later, an emotional Pablo and I were in my car crossing the Houston Street bridge as Jerry Jacobs, a total stranger, agreed to assist him free of charge.

Pauperized and pulverized by a storm that had washed them 500 miles away from everything and everyone they held precious, this unbroken stream of people seemed to accept their circumstances with an almost surreal peace.

While most were in shock, what struck me was their attitude. Contrary to reports I had read on the Internet, these people were exceedingly grateful. Despite losing everything, enduring the horrific squalor of the Superdome, a 10-hour bus ride, and sleeping on concrete floors, I kept hearing people say: “God is good,” “Thank you” and “I'm blessed.”

This experience has fortified my own faith and humbled me. The grace of these survivors causes me to approach the coming Thanksgiving season with less emphasis on what I own and more on the incredible life that I have been given.

In the coming weeks, every American taxpayer has an enhanced opportunity to do something extraordinary for our new neighbors while also benefiting themselves.

Remembering how local charities suffered in the aftermath of 9/11, Congress has passed the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act.

Among its provisions, taxpayers may give unlimited cash gifts to any charitable organization for any purpose up to 100 percent of a donor's total income.

Between Aug. 28 and Dec. 31, the IRS will waive the former 50 percent of adjusted gross income limit on charitable deductions, allowing donors to deduct 100 percent (donor-advised funds and private foundations are excluded).

This unprecedented act opens the door to current gifts from individual retirement accounts, qualified retirement plans, money market accounts, annuities, CDs and other types of cash assets.

Of course, donors should consult with their financial, tax or gift-planning professional before making a gift. Visit www.wilkinsoncenter.org or www.irs.gov for more information.

By returning money to taxpayers' own pockets, the government has granted an enhanced but rapidly closing window of opportunity to assist people like Clarice and Pablo in restoring hope, reclaiming dignity and rebuilding their lives.

Brian Burton is executive director of The Wilkinson Center, a faith-based organization that provides pathways out of poverty for more than 20,000 people in Dallas. Contact him through www.wilkinsoncenter.org.