Hurricane Harvey response effort

            Late August, Houston was hit by one of the most devastating hurricane every seen in The United States of America. Harvey, the name given to the hurricane that had displaced over 30,000 Houstonians. In response to this, Ayudh Houston and Embracing the World chapter in Houston got together and began planning on how to address the suffering, and formulate ways to contribute and help those who were affected by this natural calamity. 

AYUDH Houston members have been participating in the effort to assist those in need through various donations and visits to shelters and organizations that provide direct assistance to victims of the hurricane. Members have also been able to visit different areas of Houston and its suburbs to try and assess the situation of these communities. Throughout this entire process, we have received funds and assistance from both children and adults throughout the Houston area, who have also planned and attended every opportunity that they were given to assist these communities to the best of their ability.

As the weather created a hazardous environment in certain areas in Houston, temporary shelters were set up in stadiums, convention centers, churches and even schools. They were in high demand for supplies. Within the first two days after the storm, we were able to deliver over 100 care packages consisting of everyday essentials such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, tissues, granola bars and other various snacks. These care packages were accompanied by baby food, baby wipes and canned foods which were brought to a donation center located on Dairy Ashford Road. On the same day, another member donated dog food to a pet shelter.

The next day, members in Katy were able to locate temporary shelters in need of donations. We delivered loaves of bread, bottles of jam, boxes of croissants, packets of tortillas, boxes of cereal, containers of chips and Gatorade to Cinco Ranch High School in Katy. We also delivered dishing washing soap, diapers, cereal and snacks to an independent shelter in Katy, as well as two trays of homemade food, water and snacks to First United Methodist Church.

During the remainder of the week members

continued to assist shelters. While visiting St. Theresa’s Church shelter we learned what they needed and then provided them with items from their list of requests. Members were able to donate bread, water, snacks, sanitary items, diapers and feminine products. Later on that day, we also prepared 63 sandwiches and two trays of pasta to serve to the homeless through an organization known as Food Not Bombs.

    AYUDH Houston is currently working on focusing on one specific organization’s needs by assuming and fulfilling the entire list of items needed by the St. Lawrence Church in Sugarland. Our goal is to collect, assemble and deliver all the items by September 8th.

    Thus far, we have managed to assist different parts of the Houston Metropolitan area consisting of the City of Houston, Sugarland and Katy. Our upcoming projects include assisting families to restabilize their lives by providing much needed aid to families through an organization known as Adopt-A-Family. We are also assuming responsibility for other organizations’ entire lists of items, one by one, in order to deliver focused, undivided attention to one organization at a time and organizing our members and families into groups of volunteers to serve at shelters and damaged homes during this time of great need in our community.

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