Volunteer Mission Teams Make Homes Liveable After Harvey and Maria
A year after Harvey and Maria, tens of thousands of homes are still uninhabitable. Volunteer mission teams working with local churches are meeting the need after FEMA and the insurance companies have turned their focus elsewhere; for those looking to help, mission teams provide a way to jump in and serve.
FOREST LAKE, Minn., Oct. 4, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Life altering, dream smashing, house flooding hurricanes. From Puerto Rico to the Texas Gulf Coast to the Carolinas, the stories repeat. Though people try to deny the impending disaster, the powerful storms progress steadily. An unwelcome guest, the hurricanes stay for days bringing with them 150-mile-an-hour winds, rain measured in feet, and utter devastation.
Once the storms move on the loss of lives, homes, and cherished memories is widespread. First responders come. People care and people give, and there is an outpouring of generosity that is a hallmark of our nation. But soon enough the 24-hour news cycle marches on, the first responders leave, insurance and FEMA help as they can, and thousands of homeowners are left to fend for themselves.
This past summer Thirst Missions, a short-term missions organization based in Forest Lake, MN, hosted and led hundreds of volunteers in rural Wharton County, Texas (pop. 41,968). People came from across the country to help rebuild homes months after Hurricane Harvey. Just in this small Texas county thousands of homes stood gutted, devoid of personal artifacts and stripped of drywall, dried out and waiting for builders. One of Thirst Missions' volunteer coordinators still has over 4,000 homes on her list needing repair just to become liveable.
In home after home volunteer work teams were stunned to see the damage and lack of progress. Ms. Peggy was still doing dishes out of her bathtub nine months after the hurricane. Ninety-two-year-old JB and his wife, Delores (an 89-year-old amputee) were rescued from Harvey's roiling floodwaters by boat. They'd received no help in the months after Harvey and were going to be evicted the following week. The team's work allowed them to stay in the home they'd owned for decades.
One of their neighbors was forced to move in with his grandchildren to a home that still didn't have running water. This heartbreaking story plays out in thousands of ways in Wharton County, and this need will persist for years to come.
The ongoing need in Puerto Rico is similar but on a much larger scale. Days living in a shell of a home turn into months and years. Many people living in the remote interior are still without consistent water and electricity. When dreams are dashed and daily life is set back 50 years, depression can set in. (Those with means moved to Miami or some other alluring new place--well over 100,000 have fled to mainland US.) For those who choose to stay or have no choice, the loss of jobs and friends takes a toll--many have a hard time coping. Is anyone coming to bring love, joy, a fresh set of hands, and encouragement to those in need? Who will help in the sustained process of rebuilding lives and homes?
Thirst Missions is standing in the gap for people across the Texas Gulf Coast and Puerto Rico who need help rebuilding their lives and homes after the hurricanes. Hundreds of volunteers have signed up to serve in Puerto Rico and Texas in 2019, but the number is still well short of the need. Volunteer teams work long, hard days, but also enjoy traveling with friends and uniting in a common cause. Thirst Missions is asking for groups to join in this effort in 2019 and for years to come.
SOURCE Thirst Missions
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