TEXAS HURRICANE UPDATE - HOUSTON & COASTAL BEND (JULY 2018)
DISASTER PROFILE Hurricane Harvey made landfall on August 25, 2017, near Rockport, TX as a category 4 Hurricane with a record 52" of rain and 130-mph winds. It led 41 counties in Southeast Texas to be designated as federal disaster areas; one third of Houston was completely flooded. An estimated 136,000 homes were damaged in Harris County (Houston) alone. Additionally, the Coastal Bend region was hit especially hard, with an estimated 39,927 damaged structures totaling $4.5 billion. Damage in this region was even more varied than in Houston - not only were homes affected by storm surge and rising waters, but the high speed winds damaged many trees and roofs. This caused top-down water damage, debris and tree hazards, and led to long-term struggles to keep homes dry. RESPONSE PHASE Thanks to critical support from donors, partners, and volunteers from around the world, All Hands and Hearts – Smart Response was able to complete an impactful 16 and 18-week programs across the Coastal Bend and Harris County regions, respectively. Our teams responded to the outcry for help with gutting and mold sanitizing homes. Between the two programs we were able to complete 310 muck/gut jobs and 103 sanitation jobs, facilitating 2,074 volunteers and providing assistance to 1374 people. Teams were also able to remove trees from 77 sites, and debris from 105 sites in the Coastal Bend region. OUR CURRENT ACTIVITIES (RECOVERY PHASE) As we continue response work (mucking, gutting and sanitizing homes), we are also rebuilding homes in northeast Houston and the Coastal Bend. In this phase, we complete ~4 home rebuilds/month. Volunteers travel to job sites each morning at 6 or 7AM and return each evening to our base for a nightly meeting recapping the day. With ~50 volunteers on base at one time, over 40 nationalities have been represented since January. Thanks to support from our partners at TUMI, we are also working on our first ever domestic school rebuild at the Rhodes Performing Arts School. We made a 2-year commitment to help Texas recover, so we aren’t slowing down anytime soon.
Volunteers work on decking at the new Rhodes School campus. The Rhodes School is a public charter school located in NE Houston serving low-income, at-risk students. Serving 1100 students from pre-K to 8th grade across all campuses, the school incorporates music and arts into its daily curriculum.
Volunteer Caitlin holds up Wrangler Denim Insulation while another volunteer staples it from above.
OUR IMPACT (JANUARY-JUNE)
3,973
PEOPLE ASSISTED
977
3,070
JOBS COMPLETED
VOLUNTEERS
22,265
VOLUNTEER DAYS
HOMEOWNER HIGHLIGHTS “There’s a bird called the phoenix, and it rises from the ashes. That’s how I felt when you guys came to us. Because everything was total destruction. We lost everything, you know? [...] So when we say we’re rising like the phoenix, you guys empowered us. After three companies came in and couldn’t finish, you guys came in and just loved on us. And it was like ‘Ok, we’re gonna get it done.’” - Kim (Houston homeowner whose home AHAH mucked, gutted and sanitized)
OUR VOLUNTEERS
“I'm a manager with over 30 years' experience and I have seen few operations run as well as this one. The meticulousness of the house repairs would put a typical contractor to shame. Everyone is uber friendly, kind, helpful, and considerate.” “All Hands and Hearts Houston is an incredible community filled with amazingly dedicated, kind and hard-working people committed to helping with disaster relief. The staff went out of their way to make sure we felt comfortable, safe”
OUR MISSION To effectively and efficiently address the immediate and long-term needs of communities impacted by natural disasters. By listening to local people, and deploying a unique model of engaging volunteers to enable direct impact, we rebuild safe, resilient schools, homes and other community infrastructure.
OUR PARTNERS
4 YEARS IN A ROW! Only 13% of charities have received at least 4 consecutive 4-star ratings. This means All Hands and Hearts outperforms most of the other 1.5 million charities in America in operational and financial efficiency.
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For additional information: Rebecca Connelly, Partnership Manager rebecca.c@allhandsandhearts.org or (508) 965-0787 www.allhandsandhearts.org