Thunderstorms  are predicted for Hatch, New Mexico , as last week's floods are abating. The community pulled together  in an impressive way, pouncing on cleanup duties.

Our own Wells Fargo people did their part as well. Patrick from Albuquerque reports:

"We had team members out last Saturday cooking hot dogs and handing out water to residents of the devastated community. We are also offering low-interest disaster loans in this and three other communities we serve, Alamogordo, Anthony and Santa Teresa."

Michelle, a business banker in las Cruces, wrote:

"It was such a great feeling helping them out. The people were so grateful, we saw tears and cheers when we came around. Anyone can write a check, but the people that needed the food and water physically got it. When a check is written, who gets the money? Not the ones that need it immediately. The volunteers were so grateful, too."

I know what you're thinking—or even hollering: This is supposed to be a blog by Wells Fargo, but about Preparedness. As usual, you're right. But as I have written before here and here, preparedness is about being a community, one household at a time. And when you've got a bigger household (Wells Fargo has over 100,000 team members) your preparedness has a wider field.

Wells Fargo is committed to being an integral part of the communities where we do business. This is motivated by a couple of key points. First, regular people have jobs with the company in their home areas—it's not so much Wells Fargo helping out as it is local people helping their neighbors while wearing Wells Fargo T-shirts. Second, when you're part of the community, people might trust you with business more than they might trust some heartless monolith. Whatever the difference, Wells Fargo would rather do the decent thing and contribute.

It's not all cynicism, you know. Sometimes people really do help out. Bank of America  has a similar program of involvement, as do Microsoft , Sears , and Liberty Mutual . Whether you believe their sincerity or not, these mega-corps still have the programs in place that connect with communities. While size certainly limits the direct, face-to-face involvement that neighbors have, it also means greater resources committed to the programs.

At root, though, you'll see people out there in the mud after a flood, picking up shards of roofing after a twister, and hammering a floor joist at house building programs. Regular folks on the case, no matter who is buying the hot dogs and pop.