Never Ending Harvey

Other than a few special birthdays we celebrate in August (Shout out to my brother who is celebrating his tomorrow!), I am beginning to hate the month of August. It started last year with the flood and solidified it this year with Harvey. Whereas we have not directly been affected by the hurricane, it's still painful to watch. Today it's making its third AND FINAL landfall. I am relieved. It was beginning to get a little too close for comfort. When it went back out to the Gulf a couple days ago and forecasters hinted that it was going to hook East when it made landfall, I was nervous. Emotions from last year at this time began to resurface. E woke me up last night because he had a nightmare that our house was flooding. We are all feeling it.
But, despite the horrific life-threatening flooding that is happening along Texas and SW Louisiana, people are once again coming together to show what makes Southerners so special. Common citizens from all over are banding together in a time of need. They are breaking the color barriers that the media tries to hype up. People are burning their vacation hours at work to make a trip to the South to help anywhere it's needed. People of all ages are already starting to collect money and items to send to parts of Texas.
Rob is one of those people who has given selflessly. One of the things I love about him is that he doesn't hesitate to step up to the plate to help perfect strangers. It doesn't matter if it's someone stranded on the side of the highway with a flat tire or an elderly lady trying to pump gas at the gas station. He helps without hesitation. Hurricane Harvey has been no exception. Monday morning, despite injuring his back over the weekend, he felt burdened to help rescue people in need in Texas. He coordinated with a friend who had a boat and he headed out. When he got to his friend's house, the guy's neighbor came over and handed them a substantial amount of money, not wanting anything to come out of their pockets. He couldn't go help personally but he wanted to contribute financially. That's how people do it in the South, give what they can, any way they can. It's the way of life here.
According to Rob, Monday was just organized chaos. He kept being told to go to different places and he spent the day wasting gas and time. He did help load up supplies in his truck but he was pretty discouraged when he got back to his friend's house Monday night. Yesterday he got up and headed for Texas. He and his friend were almost to Houston when it was announced that SW LA would be getting hit hard when Harvey made landfall again. His friend, not having been through this type of storm before, decided he wanted to get back home in case his house was in the line of fire, so to speak. So, when it was all said and done, Rob didn't have a chance to rescue anyone, which didn't bode well with him. That's not his MO. He didn't leave the house Monday morning with the intent of driving around and not coming in contact with those in need.
He is still hoping that someone will call him and ask him to help. He is on the phone constantly, listening to the Cajun Navy walkie talkie app, trying to find a way to help. There's an expression that people have "a heart the size of Texas." Well, Texas needs all the heart they can get. They are not out of the woods by a long shot. In fact, they are only just beginning to feel the impact of Harvey.
If you feel the need to help, I ask that you do NOT donate to the Red Cross. I won't go into why but just trust me on this. Instead, find a non-profit (church or school or....) that will use the donations directly. If you want to donate items directly instead of money, some good things to donate are bottles of bleach, plastic storage tubs, garbage bags, rubber gloves, non-perishable food, baby formula and DIAPERS, bottled water, soap. Those are needed way more than clothes or stuffed animals at this point and anything is appreciated.
Hopefully next August I will blog about what a beautiful month it's been, one void of any life threatening storm. Until then  please pray for Texas as they have a long and seemingly endless road ahead of them.

In Nome, TX, on their way to Katy/Sugarland, TX