Hello again everyone, we’re just back from another trip to Rockport and Tivoli. Before we get into the details, I wanted to share some interesting fund raising for Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Please keep those folks in your thoughts and prayers. The news of damages coming out of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and other Caribbean nations is staggering.

Our former U.S. Presidents have started The One America Appeal to raise money for relief efforts from Harvey, Irma and Maria if your looking to donate. If you need a new Texas flag sleeping bag, Enlightened Equipment is donating 100% of the profits from this new product to Houston relief aid.

For our trip this past weekend, I purchased laundry detergent, dish soap and cooking oil from a local Dollar Tree and H-E-B supermarket in Austin, based on our latest list from Angie in Tivoli. The employees at both stores did their best to accommodate my requests for items in bulk. One employee even asked if she and some fellow employees could personally support our efforts in addition to other H-E-B-led Harvey relief opportunities. I’ll be checking in with her this week to see how we might collaborate on future trips.

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We spent another $325 on Tivoli donations, leaving approximately $600 of your generous donations remaining.

Thomas, Halen and I planned to drop off Tivoli supplies, check in with neighbors and get Halen’s house ready for one of his relatives. The biggest news in the area since our last visit was that electricity had been restored for most Rockport residents by Friday Sept. 8th, two weeks after Harvey mad landfall.

We arrived in Rockport just before midnight on Friday and started working on the house Saturday morning. On our way across town, we were astonished at how much progress had been made since our first trip. Removal of massive amounts of debris piled up along the streets is now the most pressing challenge for city and county sanitation crews.

We were pleased to see food vendors still providing free food to the resilient Rockport  community. Some more businesses are starting to open up, including several gas stations, restaurants, and Salemi’s ACE hardware, which had buckets scattered throughout the store to catch water dripping from the ceiling.

On Saturday evening we had dinner at The Boiling Pot, a Rockport mainstay. If you ever get a chance to visit Rockport and Fulton, gorge yourself on some local, cajun style seafood.

When we arrived at Halen’s house, we found a group of volunteers finishing off the remaining tree debris from his neighbor’s yard. Trees that were bare the week after Harvey have already regrown their leaves.

We spent most of Saturday and Sunday getting Halen’s house ready for his Mother-in-law  to move in. She had been renting home that was condemned due to damage from Harvey. She and several other members of Halen’s family came over and braved the muggy heat to clean up the remaining tree debris and a metal shed that had blown over the fence during the hurricane.

On our way back on Sunday evening, we stopped by the Tivoli free ‘store’ to drop off our donations only to find it had closed. However, we were relieved to find a member of the local Tivoli Fire Department nearby and he offered to deliver donations to the store once it opened on Monday.

Well, that wraps up our latest trip. I’m feeling energized by the resilience and unity I see in the Rockport community as they recover from Harvey. I hope some of that comes across in these posts and updates. Stay tuned for updates on our efforts for this coming weekend. Be safe and thanks for your support!