An ‘outpour of support’ for families in need

Georgetown volunteers continue to answer the call to support residents displaced or affected by the flooding that took place across Williamson County July 5. 

In the Georgetown area, the heaviest damage was at two RV parks — Shady River and GoodWater — on Highway 29 west of Jonah. On Sunday, a grassroots effort formed to aid residents in both communities. Established nonprofits such as The Caring Place, Helping Hands of Georgetown and The Georgetown Project also stepped in to assist families in need.

“The RVs were piled on top of each other,” said Rob Dyer, The Georgetown Project’s chief executive officer. “Those were people’s permanent homes — and they're just destroyed. I mean, it's so sad and terrible that people have faced that kind of loss.”

Helping Hands of Georgetown

Nonprofit Helping Hands of Georgetown — which hands out food and goods for homeless individuals throughout the week — converted their usual distribution event last Sunday at St. Paul United Methodist Church to directly serve flood victims. 

Dozens of community members showed up, donating countless items of clothing, shoes, water and more. 

Office Manager Rachel Bowerman said the organization is now accepting gift cards, water, nonperishable food, toiletries and clothing — although there isn’t a current need for women’s clothing.  Gift cards are a priority. 

Supplies can be dropped off during office hours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday at Dell Pickett Elementary School. 

She said she’s heard heartbreaking stories this week, including a family who lost their RV in the flood months after losing home to a tornado. 

“This is probably the worst tragedy that has affected the area since Covid,” Ms. Bowerman said. 

The Georgetown Project 

The Georgetown Project — which offers programs to local youth and also connects children and families with other services that provide food, shelter and resources —  put together hygiene and supply bags Monday, which were delivered to Williams Elementary School for families in the Georgetown ISD.

The organization accepts donations such as clothing and toiletries, but Mr. Dyer said monetary donations through the nonprofit’s website are the best way to help at this time. 

“[Monetary donations] make the most impact because that would pay for a hotel room for somebody,” he said.

The Georgetown Project has helped fund emergency shelter by placing some families in hotels. Mr. Dyer also said gift cards to H-E-B or restaurants like Subway are useful.

The Georgetown Beard Club

The Georgetown Beard Club is accepting monetary donations and allocating it to other nonprofits that need it the most. Club President Phil Gringis said the current priority is monetary donations and fundraising, which can cover temporary housing costs and dump fees at the Williamson County Landfill for the waste collected at the destroyed RV parks. 

“The RV parks that flooded out, I mean, there's just a bunch of trash there,” club member Micheal Price said. “A lot of the RVs were just completely destroyed, and they're not insured. What we’re going to need is some form of semi longterm housing for families that were at the RV parks.” 

A flood relief fund fundraiser was held at Barking Armadillo Brewing Tuesday night, and featured Mikey V’s new food truck. Another took place Wednesday at Tejas Meat Supply on the Square. 

The Beard Club is using funds to cover dump fees at the Williamson County Landfill for the waste collected at the destroyed RV parks. 

The club is also looking for restaurants that can provide warm meals to families. 

Mr. Price said he was at the RV parks on Sunday distributing supplies to families. While the effort was a success, he said it’s been difficult to delegate tasks and that the influx of supplies was difficult to organize. 

“We were overwhelmed with blessings very, very quickly, and more quickly than we could actually handle,” Mr. Price recalled. “That was actually the message that we were trying to give out to people on Sunday. We can't handle this much this quickly, and the generosity of the good people in Georgetown just was too much to handle right away.

“We have more clothes than we can fold, and we have pallets of water. People have been extremely generous, but the problem is we don't have storage for them, so we're trying to limit the supply intake right now.” 

Last week, the Beard Club canceled its monthly First Friday on the Square music performance because of the rain. That concert was rescheduled to Friday June 11. During the event, Beard Club members will shout out some of the volunteers who have helped this week. 

To donate funds to the Georgetown Beard Club, people can Venmo @georgetownbeardclub or they make a check out to “Georgetown Beard Club, Inc.” and mail it to: PO Box 2772, Georgetown, TX 78627. 

The Caring Place 

The Caring Place has seen an “outpouring of support” and has been “fielding calls left and right,” this week, according to Erin Becnel, the nonprofit’s programs and services director.

The Caring Place has provided some financial support for housing, but has been providing families clothing vouchers for their thrift store and items from their food pantry. 

Their services are walk-in and they are open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 2001 Railroad Avenue. The Caring Place always accepts clothing, nonperishable food and monetary donations. 

For direct monetary donation, Ms. Becnel encouraged people to donate to the Central Texas Community Foundation’s official “Wilco cares” flood relief fund, which had generated more than $200,000 in five days. 

The foundation is providing direct financial assistance to help families establish new housing through paying insurance deductibles and apartment security deposits. Ms. Becnel noted that the organization is a great resource for people because there aren’t many organizations out there that provide that type of funding. 

To donate to the Central Texas Community Foundation, visit https://tinyurl.com/4pp33d3a.

Sidebar: Central Texas Community Foundation

The Central Texas Community Foundation has established a disaster relief fund for those affected by last week’s flood. Recipients will have to go through an application process to have the funds distributed fairly. 

Amount raised as of Wednesday

$220,000

How to donate

Wilco Cares fund: https://tinyurl.com/4pp33d3a 

General donations: https://ctxcf.networkforgood.com