07/28/2026
From FoxCitiesTornado.com
People want to help immediately, and that impulse is genuinely the best thing about a place like this. Some quick honesty about what helps and what does not:
Most helpful:
Money to established local organizations. It sounds cold next to a truckload of supplies, but cash lets relief groups buy exactly what is short, locally, keeping money in damaged businesses, with no sorting or storage cost
Registering as a volunteer through an organized effort and waiting to be called
Checking on your own neighbors — especially anyone elderly, alone, or medically fragile
Donating blood, which is always short after a mass-casualty event
Please avoid, at least for now:
Driving into the damage area to look. Officials have been explicit: extra traffic is actively slowing emergency response. Menasha's police chief asked non-residents to stay out
Self-deploying with a chainsaw. Well-meant, but untrained volunteers around downed conductors and unstable trees create casualties. Register with Crisis Cleanup instead
Collecting used clothing. The unwanted-donation problem is real and consumes volunteer hours that should go to survivors
Before you give to any fundraiser, see the scam warnings in the Avoid Scams section. Fake charities appear within 48 hours of every disaster, and this one is now past that mark.
