December 16? Really? Its been a great year, but does it have to end so soon?
2010 offered TEDRD lots of surprises and good times. To close out the year, we'll be posting about some of the memorable moments of 2010.
We started off with a bang in January with groups from Grapevine Presbyterian and Franklin & Marshall. Both had come to help before and both will be coming back in 2011. What a great group. It got a little crowded, but we managed.
But the big event came when Bishop Doyle visited Galveston to tour some churches as well as the homes were were working on. After visiting Ms. Marsha's house as F&M worked away, Bishop Doyle volunteered to offer the house blessing at the completion of the project.
That first week in January also marked Nikki's first day as an intern. She stuck around for a record 7 straight months. We also started the very successful partnership with Disney's Give a Day, Get a Day program.
January 2011 looks to be even more exciting as we entertain the Presiding Bishop and celebrate our final month of volunteer labor. We hope you're ready!
We're back from Thanksgiving and working hard again. Our jobs feel even more important during this time of the year as our homeowners long to be home with family during the holidays.
We have just a couple more months left in our project which has been so instrumental in helping over 150 homeowners. We want to help as many people as possible before our grand exit at the end of January. Can you donate today to help us finish strong?
Residents of the GulfCoast can certainly be grateful for one thing this Thanksgiving: the end of another hurricane season. And while the 2010 Atlantic storm season lived up to the foreboding predictions of experts, with 19 named storms and12 hurricanes (five of which were classified as “major”), most of us never got a chance to utilize the plans and preparations we put into place last spring.
Yet as we breathe a sigh of relief and look forward to the holidays, our opportunity to prepare for emergencies presses on. The end of hurricane season marks the beginning of winter in Texas, with its occasional freezing temperatures, ice storms, and even a snowflake or two. These events, standard procedure for other areas of the country, can be devastating here, where many communities lack the systems and knowledge to adequately respond.
Additionally, as furnaces burst to life to ward off the chill and as we gather together indoors to enjoy their warmth, the likelihood of fires and illness increase. Not to mention those events that can affect communities at any time of the year: technological outages, transportation disasters, and chemical spills, to name a few.
With all this to consider, it seems that the work of a prepared person is never really done. As one threat passes behind us, others stand ready to take its place, each requiring unique action. No matter what the season, the beginning steps to becoming prepared are the same: examine your risks, find out how to prepare for them, create a plan, and review it often.
We can even use these varying risks to our advantage. To prepare for everything, all at once, would prove a daunting and expensive task; when we turn preparedness into a year-round activity, it becomes more manageable.
Preparing for winter weather, for example, might involve keeping our fuel tanks more than 25% full, having adequate food and medicine stored at home in case we are unable to travel for necessities, keeping flashlights, candles, and warm blankets ready for power outages, and testing fire alarms throughout your home and church.
Many of these tasks might have already been completed as we considered other risks such as hurricanes or chemical disasters, though food, bottled water, and other items with expiration dates should be checked regularly to ensure that they are usable.
Whether your goal is to build an emergency kit from scratch or to restock, consider making a list, and then picking up a couple of items each time you make a regular trip to the store. Test fire and emergency exits each time you clean, and gather flashlights and candles in locations easy to find without the aid of electricity.
Preparedness requires thinking ahead, not only to our immediate threats, but those that could happen even months down the road. Yet when we make preparedness part of our regular routine, we won’t be caught off guard. And that’s just one more thing to be thankful for.
TEDRD has now worked on 175 homes in Galveston and La Porte, TX. 50 homeowners have received partial or total repairs.
With the exit of other rebuild organizations from Galveston, TEDRD will be the last full service rebuild organization left in Galveston in 2011. We want to make sure we are able to help as many homeowners before we are finished.
These homeowners are people like Mr. Keyes, an 83-year-old WWII veteran who takes care of his 59-year-old daughter who has brain damage.
Or Mr. Rodgers, who lost his leg to infection after the storm in addition to losing his wife to alzheimer's disease. He now builds cabinets for our projects.
Or Ms. Marsha, who helped others return home after the storm while her own house was in disrepair.
Our homeowners are nurses, teachers, tradesmen, retirees, veterans, librarians, and writers. Many of them lost everything in the storm.
They are people that keep this community moving. They are mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters. And although most of them are reluctant to ask for help, we want to be there to give them some peace.
Thank you for your continued support of Texas Episcopal Disaster Relief and Development. We are approaching the end of our journey in Galveston, and we need your help now more than ever!
Can you spare $15 or more to help us finish strong? Just $15 from everyone would pay for all the materials to move two more homeowners back home! Click Here to Donate or send checks to 427 Market St. Galveston, Tx 77550. Make checks payable to the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, and write "Hurricane Ike Relief" in the memo line. Or send us Home Depot gift cards!
It looks as if we will be the last full service relief organization working in Galveston, and we want to help as many homeowners as possible before we begin our wrap up in February 2011.
Also, please consider volunteering with us this November and December. Our schedule is almost empty! Help us get as many families home as possible!
Email or call Luke at volunteer@epicenter.org and 713.252.9693 if you're interested in making a trip!
Beginning in January of this year, Larry Hagan of Texas City has visited TEDRD every week to lend a hand and help us rebuild homes in Galveston.
Larry, or LTC as we call him, has been essential to the success of TEDRD. He is skilled in many areas of construction, but most importantly he offers our staff and volunteers his wisdom and positive attitude on the jobsite.
Every Wednesday, we plan special projects for Larry. Most of the time it is not glamorous work, but Larry takes it in stride.
Larry is a caretaker at heart. Outside of TEDRD, Larry spends much of his time caring for his family members. But we're glad he finds some time to take care of us and our homeowners as well.
Thanks for visiting the TEDRD Blog! Feel free to comment on any of our posts with ideas, questions, and other commentary.
We'll try to keep you updated on what's happening with our relief efforts, and you can keep us updated with your experiences.
Visit our website at www.epicenter.org/ikerelief or contact Luke Blount, Volunteer Coordinator, for inquiries about volunteering - volunteer@epicenter.org.
