The photo on the right is of a Wells Fargo customer service truck near Lyons Colorado in September of this year.
Lyons at the time had suffered from horrific flooding caused by a torrential 18 inch rainfall in one day in an area that usually receives that amount of rain in a year.
I think it is not just humane for a business to be prepared to continue serving its customers during a calamity, I think it is good business.
The best example I can think of was the work of A.P. Giannini, chairman and owner of the Bank of Italy in San Francisco who set up a mobile bank only days after the great 1906 earthquake. Giannini gained so much appreciation from everyone in the community and especially business people for being open promptly to help businesses that he was able to grow his modest Bank of Italy, in two decades, to become Bank of America.
Being open for business promptly after a calamity not only gains long-term support for the business but also is a magnificent display of the importance of commerce to the creation and sustenance of our society.
Part of the long-term gratitude the community feels toward a business for its extra effort in troubled times is, what I consider, a deeper appreciation for the role of commerce in creating our modern society.