It began with a chance encounter at a local mail center. As I was waiting on a delivery, “Mark”, whom I have not seen in years, walked in with a big box he wanted to ship to Texas for the victims of Harvey, and he started to tell his story. His church wanted to get 300 handmade quilts to Texas, and they had 40 boxes ready to go. He wanted to see how much each box would cost to ship. The cost per box was going to be over $40 each, which would be a lot for the church, and so I suggested to Mark that he have the Quilters group at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection call me at Racine County Eye. Maybe we could find someone through our news site who would be willing to take the boxes down to Texas.
And so, we posted the story, shared it to our social media sites, and within minutes started seeing something miraculous happening. People started sharing, they started to tag other people and the word spread throughout Southeastern Wisconsin.
We were told about trucks scheduled to leave to help victims of Harvey today, tomorrow, and into next week. The trucks are sending all sorts of supplies for the people and the pets of Texas. Marcia’s Second Time Around on 27th Street is leaving Friday morning with pet supplies. Union Grove Baptist Church is taking a truck full this Friday. Foxhole lounge has a truck leaving on Sunday. Those are just a few of the efforts under way to help our brothers and sisters in Texas.
We heard about a Disaster Relief Team going down on Wednesday to help flood victims. They are looking for laborers to go down with them. The pay is $15 per hour. Hotel will be paid. If you are interested, or would like more information, you can call Xavier at 786-306-8169. They need a lot of hands.
People also reached out to thank the First Friday quilters group, The Sew ‘n Sews from the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection. It’s a great feeling to know that people from Wisconsin care enough to go out of their way to help those who have been affected by Hurricane Harvey.
To follow up, I received an email from Heather this morning who works for the Church, and she told me that they are finalizing a few things. Â UPDATE: “The Church is working with Pewaukee High School. They have a truck from the J J Watt Foundation.”
There are many groups set up on social media that are taking donations, reuniting loved ones, and providing information to families, businesses, and organizations. For a list of some of those Facebook groups, click here.