When asked, the community always responds strongly! Here are some examples.
Katrina
In late August 2005, Katrina struck and overall did $186.3 billion in damage with New Orleans taking the biggest hit. The legendary Jeff Middleton (and SBS MVP), a New Orleans resident,
gave a passionate speech a few weeks later the the thrd SMB Nation Fall conference. It was emotional and motivated several SMB Nation members to go to New Orleans and assist in the IT recovery for small and medium businesses (SMBs). I recall Bob Hood from Chicago as one of the volunteers.
Harvey
Hitting Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, Harvey was a tropical cyclone (not hurricane) triggered intense flooding in Houston amounting to $125 billion in overall damages. That was when we formed the MSP Navy to assist small businesses in IT recovery. That effort was led by Ken Dwight (the “Virus Doctor”) and Tim Loney. They chalked up a few wins for a two person team.
Lahaina
The SMB community steped up just over a year ago to help an MSP wiped out by the fires. We were on the team the raised $60,000 in tn days on a GoFunme page. We also worked with numerous MSP sponsors to have all-import equipment and services donated. And we're just starting - the journey will be long!
Helene
Right now as this article is published, a large part of the Southeast in the US is overwhelmed with Helene It was a hurricane initially but that was only part of the story. But the real damage occurred after landfall and many states were impacted with flooding more so than the winds. And this is where I have ideas that I’ll express in an online gathering this Friday to talk about activating the MSP Navy with SMB Nation volunteers.
A couple of thoughts.
Please attend our webinar later this week HERE. We will use this webinar to brainstorm on ideas to help. The recovery will be long.
Our partnership with Acer in the MSP Technology Transformation sweepstakes is potentially a game changer to give one small business a technology make-over. The winning MSP receives $5,000 for expenses and Acer is providing 20-laptops. So I’d encourage MSPs from the SE US to join and see if you win and perhaps direct these efforts to helping a small business client recover. Details are HERE.