Lone Star Disaster Relief Fund

When Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, it meant double-duty for people like Tommy, a grants manager at BakerRipley. It meant early mornings and long days for All Hands and Hearts volunteers. It meant helping neighboring communities, as was the case for staff of The Food Bank Rio Grande Valley, who continue to support sister food banks in the affected areas of Houston, Victoria, Beaumont and Corpus Christi.

Thanks to you, these local heroes had the resources they needed to respond to the most pressing needs their communities in the wake of Harvey. With your support, our partners are restoring hurricane-ravaged homes, feeding displaced families, and caring for the most vulnerable survivors of the storm.

With your support, our Hurricane Harvey relief partners are now focused on meeting long-term disaster recovery needs in the hardest-hit Houston communities. That means ensuring vulnerable storm survivors, including immigrants, the elderly, and children, have food and shelter.

While life looks like it’s back to normal in most parts of Houston, with electricity humming and doors open for business, the situation is still dire for thousands of people who our partners serve. Recovery continues nearly 11 months after Hurricane Harvey forever changed the communities and lives of families in Texas.

All Hands and Hearts’ volunteer teams in Houston and the Coastal Bend area work five days a week, leaving base at 7 a.m. every morning in order to get desperately needed work completed as soon as possible. Their teams are focusing on rebuilding homes, taking a home from the studs all the way to the installation of cabinets and light fixtures. This allows for families to return to a safe and secure place where they can begin to rebuild their lives. To date All Hands and Hearts have completed 15 home rebuilds across Texas with six homes currently in progress.

Full recovery from Hurricane Harvey by all accounts will take years, and there are many challenges to still overcome. With you by our side, the GlobalGiving community will continue to be a strong source of support for community heroes—now and for the long haul.

Links:

• Read more updates from BakerRipley
• Read more updates from Food Bank Rio Grande Valley

Thank you for your generous support of the Lone Star Disaster Relief Fund. Families have restored hope for the future because you reached out to offer a helping hand. Your donations support a number of disaster relief efforts from our partners including BakerRipley. Here's an update from Shannon Morley-Ragland, Director of Institutional Giving at BakerRipley:

On Thanksgiving morning, Monique Lampkin drafted a letter to BakerRipley’s disaster recovery team.

“Although I was impacted by Hurricane Harvey, I am so blessed,” she wrote. “I am so grateful for how you were a catalyst to help me in time of desperate need. I do not take your generosity for granted. Your care has given me so much hope for 2018.”

Monique lives in Richmond, not far from the banks of the Brazos River. When Hurricane Harvey hit, she wanted to wait out the storm, but had to evacuate to a shelter when the waters breached.

She returned home on Labor Day and, while her home didn’t sustain severe damage, the next couple of weeks threatened to pull her under. She had been working as a substitute teacher after being laid off from her job in the oil and gas industry in 2015, and she was struggling to make ends meet.

Unable to work during the week of the storm and the following days, Monique realized the gap in income could threaten to force her into foreclosure. She had already exhausted all of her personal assets, so she reached out for help.

“Harvey just pushed me over the edge. I can confidently say that without BakerRipley’s help, I would be homeless right now,” Monique said. “They went above and beyond making resources available and known to the community.”

Through our Disaster Case Management program, Monique was able to get extended assistance with her mortgage and to address water damage in her home.

“I count my blessings on a whole different level now. I wanted you to know my story and how much I appreciate it.”

Since the September closing of the shelter at NRG Center, where we welcomed more than 7,500 guests, BakerRipley has been working around the clock to help alleviate the suffering of folks affected by storm and helping them return to pre-disaster stability as quickly as possible.

As of the end of February, we had served a total of 7,825 individuals through our disaster case management services. Through our distribution of basic needs across our community centers, we handed out over 13,000 items, serving 9,801 households. Our home restoration program is currently helping more than 200 families navigate the repair and rebuild of their homes. To date, we’ve completed six homes.

We recognize rebuilding Houston is a long-term proposition and are committed to leading the charge to help this community regain stability and to ensure all our neighbors have equal opportunities to earn, learn and belong—to create the well-being and lives they desire. We can only do that with your support. Again, thank you for the impact you are making!

Links:

• Read more updates from BakerRipley