Yesterday, we treated the All Hands volunteers in Corpus Christi to some fun at a local Trampoline Park. Today, on Day 279, we wanted to do something special for the 80+ All Hands volunteers working to muck, gut and sanitize homes in Houston. And what better way to show we appreciate their hard work mucking and gutting homes - their taking time away from work and family - their sleeping on cots and floors in a church basement - their commitment and positive attitudes - than a pizza party Appreciation Dinner. So we rented George Park just down the street from the church where these amazing volunteers are staying. We brought loads of pizza, cookies, and refreshments. We even filled a little monkey pinata with candy and strung it up for a little extra party-time fun! While everyone ate and enjoyed each other, we got to know some of these volunteers. They told us about what they'd been doing, the people they'd met and how they'd ended up there. Tony works at Medtronic in … [Read more...] about A Slice of Thanks

Some of the hardest working folks we met in Texas were the teams from All Hands. They're helping families with the first, absolutely critical step in rebuilding their lives - emptying homes of the drywall and other materials that are harboring mold and rot. They call it mucking and gutting. It's a very hard day's work, and a lot of the All Hands volunteers have been at it for weeks now. They rise early, drive out to their work sites and go hard all day long. When they get back to their housing, they get a quick bite to eat and then many of them are to sleep by 8pm. The next day they do it all again. We wanted to help the All Hands crew in Corpus Christi change things up a bit AND do something to show how much we all appreciate their work. When we asked them what that might be, the answer was swift and decisive: trampoline park. So, on Day 278, we sent the All Hands team for an evening of play at the Get Air trampoline park. For a couple of hours they got to let loose, have fun … [Read more...] about Get Some Air

Valerie's sense of purpose was nearly swept away with Harvey's floodwaters. She lost the animals who were near and dear to her - 3 dogs and 2 cats (she also lost her truck and her home is unlivable). Thanks to quick thinking and the help of a courageous neighbor, Valerie was able to survive the flood. But she was devastated by grief. What has gotten her through the days and weeks since the flood is the neighborhood dogs who survived Harvey. Many of her neighbors are now unable to properly care for their animals, so Valerie has become their defacto caretaker. Reflecting back on the days and weeks following the flood, she spoke of the impact the neighborhood dogs had on her, saying, “If it wasn’t for these dogs I would have lost it.” For someone that has stepped up in her community to fill the void of animal caretaker, we wanted to help Valerie, even in a small way. First, we got what we knew she'd love - dog treats for her dogs. While the dogs gnawed away on their treats, we … [Read more...] about Creating Connection

Two people our team has met in northeast Houston are Sonia and Elisabeth. Both women got caught in the flooding and both of their homes were devastated. And, thankfully, both women have been able to move out of the dangerous conditions in their own homes to live with family in other parts of Houston. Sonia is a single mom, and she and her son moved in with her adult daughter. Elisabeth also moved in with her grown daughter. It's been weeks since Hurricane Harvey, and both women told us they just want to get back to life as normal. "I'm excited to get back into my own house," Sonia told us. They want to start fresh with new mattresses and appliances. And on Day 276, that's exactly what we wanted to help them with. But, there was a problem. The process of mucking and gutting these women's homes, and then sanitizing them so that mold won't return, will take at least 3 weeks. And we can't bring anything new into the homes until the environment is safe and we can be sure those … [Read more...] about When She’s Ready

The water rose as high as 8 feet around the mobile home where Juanita Gomez lives with her daughters Jasmin and Yesenia and their puppy Bella. Juanita recounted, "our appliances nearly rose to the ceiling." During the middle of the night of the third day of the rain, Juanita and her daughters had no other choice but to hop in a neighbor’s truck and flee. They returned home to a nightmare, but with nowhere else to go they've been living there since the flooding. Mold is growing throughout the home and mosquitoes have invaded. Juanita showed us the small room where she and the girls are sleeping - they had lined the walls with a yellow tarp, trying to create some barrier between them and the mold. "Yes, that's where we are sleeping." On top of it all, they haven't had water service since the storm and their electricity had just been turned off because they were unable to pay. Juanita needed help to get her family safe. So, that's what we did on Day 275. First thing was … [Read more...] about Helping Juanita

This year’s devastating hurricane season on the southern coast of the U.S. has left ARC teams wondering how we might respond. While our focus is normally outside the United States, our connection to disenfranchised people reaches our own shores as well. So, on Day 273 we sent a team to Houston, Texas to see how we could help communities still recovering from Hurricane Harvey. One of the first things our team encountered was that people still don't know what is happening or what steps they should take - especially Spanish-speakers. In northeast Houston - where our team is working - FEMA hasn't been able to reach the families whose homes were damaged or flooded in the storm. As a result, the families have been in limbo, not knowing what they should do to make their homes safe or prepare for the next steps of recovery. So, on Day 273, we wanted to help people out of the darkness and empower them with information they critically need. So we translated some critical FEMA documents … [Read more...] about Speaking My Language