With the tragedy unfolding down in Houston, it's easy to just ignore what's happening when you aren't being directly affected by it (even though we are with inflation!!). Looking at the news or media and seeing photos of the floods, people wading through the water, and the lack of help/empathy from our government, it's left me feeling extremely distraught. Many people have been praying and arguing over religion v. climate change, when really we should be working together to save those in the path of hurricane Harvey. Keep praying, and keep your spirits high in hoping that God (or whatever higher power you might believe in) has these things under control.

While I am in the east and unable to directly help, donating $5 made me feel the slightest bit better as I knew that would go to someone in need. Want to help out those in Houston? Here are some ways you can:

1. Donate

Whether it's money, food, clothes, or other necessities, donating as little or as much as you can makes all the difference! Research credible websites (gofundme is a good place to start) or go to the Red Cross and donate what material items you can.

You could also check out the SPCA and see if they are sending donations to the animal shelters in Texas.

2. Volunteer

If you live near the area, or near a Red Cross, volunteer your time to help those in need. You can look into clean up crews or delivery crews, or help packing and sending packages to Houston.

3. Share

After you donate, share the page you donated to! You don't have to tell everyone that you donated $1 or $1,000, but at least show your Facebook friends and Twitter followers how they can help. If you were in this situation, you would want your cause to be spread around, too.

4. Work Together

While it is pretty clear that our government is too concerned with smaller "problems" going on in the world and refuse to accept help, there's nothing wrong with the people of our nation working together to save lives of people and animals. Many, many people are losing their homes, their loved ones, their jobs, basically their livelihood and it isn't okay to just sit around and hope it ends soon.

If you're unable to donate, try to share pages that are accepting donations so that your friends can see and donate as well. By working together, Houston will be able to see peace soon.