Picking up the slack as budgets shrink

Tornadoes and flooding spreading death and destruction across the Midwest and south this week serve as a grim reminder of the challenges our national and world civilizations face over the decades ahead as our population continues to grow. With more people crowding the planet, every flexing of our natural systems – whether it be tornado, hurricane, earthquake, volcano or attendant tidal waves – will create increasingly severe effects on our physical selves and our property.

We’re not immune in Sussex County.  Over the past 10 years, our population – now just shy of 200,000 people – has grown by double-digit percentages. Storm-driven flooding that inevitably pushes into the back-bay areas along the east side of the county and threatens coastal communities along Delaware Bay endanger the increasing number of people living in these areas. And when the sirens blow day and night, they often signal vehicle crashes on the roadways we travel. Those crashes are also increasing as the number of vehicles on our roads increases. The good news is that here in Sussex we have a solid infrastructure of professionals and volunteers trained and willing to respond when alarms are sounded. Health problems, storm effects, crashes and fires press them into service every day. Traditionally, many of these services grew out of necessity, from within communities, where people saw needs and acted to address them. Men and women volunteered their time for service and others in the community donated money and equipment to support efforts and make them more effective.

In recent years, however, especially since the 9-11 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., significant portions of operating funds for our community emergency responders have come from the federal government. The borrowing that funded these and other federal programs has put us deeply in debt and threatens our future. Cuts have started and cuts will continue. They’re absolutely necessary and just as inevitable as the natural challenges we face.

We will be stronger when we depend more on ourselves and less on the government. But when the emergency organizations on which we depend ask us for donations to help support their causes, we must respond positively and generously. By looking out for them, we will be looking out for ourselves.