Mary was maybe the most positive person our team met in Houston. And we met a lot of positive people. When the flood came, she and her family had to walk a long way to dry land. But Mary uses a walker - "I didn't think I was going to make it." She had nightmares for days afterward and wasn't sure they would ever stop. She prayed to God that the trauma would go away. Mary has kept an amazing attitude through it all, and she's even viewing Harvey as a sort of blessing. “Harvey could be a good thing – health wise for me. I had to push myself. I'm active and moving around more. I’m doing things I didn’t think I could do.” We were inspired by Mary's attitude, and we wanted to meet her positivity with more positivity. Mary's house in northeast Houston is actually further along in the rebuilding process than most. It's been mucked and gutted, sanitized and is currently being rebuilt by a small team of volunteers who came down from Tennessee to help. Talking about her house, she said, … [Read more...] about Meeting Positivity with Positivity
Archives for October 2017
A Slice of Thanks
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
Get Some Air
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
Creating Connection
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
When She’s Ready
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
Helping Juanita
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
“Don’t Drink the Water”
It’s hard to believe that, even in 2017, this traveler’s suggestion still holds true for a large part of the world. It’s a phrase, an idea really, that we’d like to eliminate. But it’s also so much more. “Don’t drink the water” represents a distrust, or a double standard, in the way we look at the people we serve and what’s “good enough” for them. But it also betrays the way we look at ourselves. It represents a failure to think creatively - to dream with ambition. We’ve settled for “good enough” for far too long. At ARC, we have a deep belief that we should only offer services - whether that be water, healthcare, or anything else - that anybody, anywhere, would be delighted to use. Why should what we offer to refugees be any different than what we accept for ourselves? We’re challenging that double standard, and advocating for dignity and world-class quality, instead. “Don’t drink the water” is a rallying cry. To challenge the status quo. To get inspired - to simply do … [Read more...] about “Don’t Drink the Water”
A Storage Solution
One of the groups we met in Houston is called All Hands. Volunteers from All Hands are doing some incredibly important work in NE Houston - mucking and gutting homes that were flooded in Hurricane Harvey. Their teams help homeowners pull out all of the drywall and other hazardous materials that are rotting and molding inside of homes that flooded. It's a critical first step in the process of recovery and rebuilding that has gone more slowly for this community. So, when we heard that we could help them speed up the process, we were all ears. The All Hands team is staying in SW Houston, nearly 1.5 hours from the communities they're helping in the northeast. They don't have a place to stay in NE, so that means every morning they pack up themselves and all of their tools for the trip. They have a limited number of vans, so lugging the bulky tools everyday means they can bring fewer volunteers along to work each day. A solution was simple - get a temporary storage pod for All … [Read more...] about A Storage Solution
Speaking My Language
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
A Field Trip
Day 272 was all about making one amazing day for a group of 100 children who have encountered more than their share of challenges and struggles. Alongside our partner Beyond the Horizon, the ARC team in Islamabad arranged a fun day at the mall for a group of orphan children. None of the children had ever been to a mall, nevermind the nicest mall in Islamabad. We gave them a a tour through the mall, and they had the chance to meet some popular mascots and ride the carousel. And we capped the whole day off with a special meal in the rooftop restaurant. "We specially arranged today to help the kids build confidence within society and expose them to new learnings," said Habib ur Rehman, ARC team member. "With these types of special opportunities for future leaders we can boost their enthusiasm and help them to find successful life paths." It was simply a short day at the mall - but the memory will last a lifetime for these children. … [Read more...] about A Field Trip