Coming Together
When disaster struck the Gulf Coast, the MOAA family — members, staff, and chapters — sprang into action to support servicemembers and families affected by the storm.
By Vice Adm. Norbert R. Ryan Jr., USN-Ret.

Recent hurricanes have devastated many lives. Americans saw some awful images, but we also saw the beauty of the human spirit in action. After these natural disasters, MOAA and its members, like America’s uniformed services, came together to help each other.

As the magnitude of the devastation became evident, MOAA staff directors acted to help the nearly 5,000 members and their families in the affected areas. MOAA would not be the first thing members thought of, but we had to be ready to serve them when they did. Most of the initial work was straightforward — eliminating mailings to ZIP codes that were shut down, notifying scholarship recipients about delaying their payments, etcetera. We extended memberships scheduled to lapse in the affected areas. We worked with our contractors and vendors to ensure they would extend grace periods for payments without charging interest.

Displaced members needed to know where to get new ID cards and how to handle paperwork involving health care and other benefits, so we posted the most timely and accurate information on the MOAA Web Base so it would be there as soon as they found Internet access. Members in the rest of the nation needed to know how to help, so the Web Base also offered links to reputable charities, including military service aid societies.

National MOAA also joined with the American Logistics Association and The Military Coalition to present $3,000 in military exchange gift certificates to the Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen’s Home in Washington, D.C., to help buy supplies for those evacuated from the sister home in Biloxi, Miss.

MOAA chapters sprang into action. Members in the upstate areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama offered living space to those who were evacuated, while other chapters pitched in to assist local bases. The MOAA Memphis Chapter collected, sorted, and delivered donations for those evacuated to NSA Millington, Tenn. The Pensacola Chapter collected and distributed gift certificates. The structure provided by the chapter system eased the way for those seeking help and those seeking to help.

I’m both proud and humbled to see the MOAA family come together to help one another. I know countless other acts of kindness occurred that we aren’t aware of, because MOAA people do what needs to be done without fanfare. I offer my profound thanks to all who assisted military families and other hurricane victims.