CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The Actors
I want to point out how each of the 25+ members of NVOAD specialize in providing a specific form of assistance during disasters. For instance, the Seventh Day Adventist have committed their nationwide membership to sorting and distributing the mountains of clothing that are donated by concerned Americans.
Other groups help the blind. Some assist with animal rescue and relocation. REACT provides emergency communications and the Civil Air Patrol uses their members and small airplanes for various logistical needs. Together, working as a large and diverse team, these volunteers rush to the rescue.
But what about water? Why am I suggesting that we should begin by providing water? At first glance, this might even seem a bit odd. Well, there are several reasons. The first is the enormous need for drinking water that relief workers almost always encounter—amazingly, even during floods. In fact, I remember reading about this when the great Mississippi River flooded several years ago. All that water but not a drop to drink. Ironic but true.
Actually, again and again I have either read or heard about this critical shortage. Just yesterday on CNN the reporter was commenting on this very problem in Europe—where, for the past week, flooding has taken on Biblical proportions. Indeed, the lack of drinking water seems to follow every disaster. Massive flooding inundates and knocks out water treatment and pumping plants. The electricity to generate water pressure is wiped out. Water becomes contaminated. Since there is no organization stepping forward to address this life-giving necessity, Krishna Disaster Relief could perform this service.
Besides bringing needed relief in the form of quality drinking water, there are other reasons why I see this as a good starting place for Krishna Disaster Relief. One is that this is a fairly simple thing to provide. Only a small number of devotees would be needed—far less complicated than trying to put a mobile kitchen on the road. As a former head cook, I am well aware of the enormous chore involved in keeping up with the cleanliness and other health aspects of running a kitchen—mobile or otherwise. But by providing just water, you can easily sense the simplicity. And water can also be offered and served as prasadam.
Furthermore, the initial cost of providing drinking water would certainly be far less than putting together a mobile kitchen, which can cost $100,000.00 each. Remarkably, the Salvation Army deploys hundreds of these expensive units.
Like I said in an earlier chapter, quality rather than quantity is what counts here. In the same way that the Mennonites (Church of the Brethren) are not going to rebuild every house damaged by a massive hurricane, by any stretch of the imagination, neither should anyone think that somehow we are going to provide drinking water for an entire city. This is not the point, or the goal. NVOAD is only looking for a sincere effort from their members. Besides this, the real object is to show the world Shrila Prabhupada’s all-merciful Lord—the greatest hero and greatest friend. The goal is to make the entire world Krishna Consciousness, beginning by awakening a heartfelt appreciation for Shrila Prabhupada’s Lord and Master.
By providing drinking water and joining NVOAD, devotees will receive a "stage pass" onto the most powerful preaching platform on the face of this earth.
As I have said, disasters are given top priority in the news. The various news networks are all equipped with mobile television vans, full of broadcasting equipment. With great competition they strive to provide the world’s population with live coverage of the unfolding drama—including profiles on the various "players."
God is the greatest hero. Everyone loves a hero. Heroes rush to the rescue. Take the next fifty years: What will the world’s appreciation of Lord Krishna and His devotees be—if, at every major disaster shown on television, they see Lord Krishna coming to the rescue? What will happen to their appreciation toward Lord Krishna? How many disasters will occur during a person’s lifetime? What if from "day-one" they see and read about Lord Krishna and His devotees coming to the rescue? Will that person appreciate Lord Krishna and Shrila Prabhupada’s great movement? Multiply this by billions of people, the world over, and the enormous power of showing Lord Krishna as He is—the greatest hero—becomes plain to see.
"Let us try to make them Krishna conscious. That is our only interest. Because I love Krishna, I want to see all—everybody in the world to become Krishna conscious."