Physical/Mental Health and Disaster Assistance

Happy New Year and thank you all so much for your continued support! 

Since our last report, we were very fortunate to make it through a mild hurricane season.  During the early fall, some of the COVID restrictions relaxed and gave us an opportunity to do some planning and rebuilding.  We’ve been able to develop new corporate and community partnerships, including a relationship with the Houston Texans football team. With mild weather and the community’s desire to engage in person, we were able to host a small celebration and fundraiser for our Executive Director’s 74^th birthday.

Just as we were getting back to some sense of normalcy, the omicron variant hit the Houston-area with a bang. We were able to manage a safe and festive celebration of the first night of Kwanzaa. In light of the quickly spreading virus, we used the event as an opportunity to administer and distribute approximately 30 coronavirus rapid test kits.  In the interest of safety for our staff and supporters, we cancelled the remaining nights of Kwanzaa events.  Subsequent to that, we also suspended our regular programs, including youth, elder, and restaurant services.

As we acquire more testing kits, we will continue to make them available to the community.  Additionally, we will provide opportunities for staff members to work from home, when possible.  During this time, we have also sanitized both of our facilities, including all surfaces and vent systems.  We have also distributed over 100 packages of disinfectant wipes, along with 12 oz. bottles of hand sanitizer and more than 500 masks.

One thing we’ve learned throughout these last two years is that we really don’t know what to expect. We do know that no matter what comes up, SHAPE staff, volunteers, and supporters, will rally to provide the best disaster response possible.  As we continue to monitor severe weather, which may threaten the Houston area, we have been able to make some weatherization repairs on our family center building. The installation of new commercial gutters cost $8,000, and has already protected our building from taking in water during extensive rain events.

Going through the process of finding a reliable contractor was a challenge. Houston has faced so many closely spaced disasters that contractors are already busy with numerous projects.  As the saying goes, “with necessity comes invention," so our recent challenges have given us the opportunity to begin brainstorming on a new program for construction training to assist with disaster relief.

We believe such a program will provide the community with more immediate assistance during times of distress, while also addressing economic development, and alleviating some of the stress that community members feel when searching for a trustworthy contractor. We look forward to keeping you updated as we begin to build out this program.