Send Your Monetary Donations To:
* Community Foundation of the Hill Country
830-896-8811; https://www.communityfoundation.net/
* Texas Search and Rescue
512-956-6727; https://www.texsar.org/donate/
* American Red Cross, Hill Country Chapter
830-257-4677;
www.redcross.org/local/texas/central-and-south-texas/ways-to-donate.html
Hill Country Family Services Director: 'Give monetarily'
Bryce Boddie never thought he would be in a position to turn away offers of help, goods and services. But in just his second week at the helm of Hill Country Family Services, Boddie is doing just that.
“Our jobs have turned to dealing with other people’s altruisms,” Boddie said. “We’re watching communities like Comfort become inundated by physical things that, right now, they don’t need. People mean well, but that’s the last thing we need right now.”
Boddie has outlined several places Boerne and Kendall County residents can turn to get involved to help the search-and-rescue, recovery and cleanup efforts along the Guadalupe, after devastating July 4 flooding left more than 80 dead, with dozens still missing.
Boddie said Visa gift cards currently are the best way of helping those in need. Clothing and household items are accumulating faster than agencies can deal with them.
“The best thing to do is give monetarily,” Boddie said. “We are taking Visa gift cards we can give out to people, which is very helpful for them.”
He said HCFS and other service agencies have temporarily halted accepting physical donations.
“Our main message right now is, physical donations can stop,” he said. “It is becoming very overwhelming.”
There will come a time, a month or so from now, he said, when those household items and clothing will become necessary, as families displaced by the flood — who may have lost their homes — find a new place to live and begin to settle in.
“If we could implore people to have patience and respond when asked in a few weeks, a few months down the line, that would be very helpful,” he said.
Boddie mentioned one particular agency where people can safely send money to aid Kerr County residents who have lost possessions, homes and loved ones.
Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country is a nonprofit “umbrella organization” that doles out funds and grant money to nonprofits in several counties, HCFS included.
Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country is based in Kerrville, he said, and has a handle on the direct needs of its community.
“My calls for help through HCFS pale in comparison to calls they receive,” he said.
Boddie said HCFS is developing a method whereby people who want to volunteer can find ways to pitch in and help, especially when flood cleanup becomes the focal point.
“We’re working on developing a Microsoft form via Facebook” he said. “If people want to give, or have heavy equipment, or chainsaws and manpower, we can hold that information in our database and call those people when we need their help.
“When someone calls and says, ‘I need help clearing my property,’ we will reach out and put you in touch with that person, to go help,” he said.
Volunteers will go online at HCFS and fill out a form detailing what equipment, gear, time or manpower they can offer.
“You’ll send it directly to us,” he said, “and we’ll have it available when we need to call on you.”
Boddie said HCFS will announce when the form is ready — both for volunteers and displaced victims who need help in the flood’s aftermath.
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