For many of the people who survived the Memorial Day weekend flood last May, the destruction isn’t yet a part of the past.
So this weekend, volunteers started going out to the hard-hit areas to help out, and they're asking for help from anyone able to join them.
Federal and city agencies dealt with a lot of the immediate problems right away, like getting a roof over the heads of flood survivors.
Rob Roark of the religious nonprofit Blanco River Regional Recovery Team, which started volunteering last weekend, says flood-affected communities have long-term unmet needs.
“A lot of homes have the studs in the walls, but we still need help in putting up sheetrock,” he says. "We still need help in getting furniture for these people.”
Roark says he and the recovery team plan to keep volunteering over the next year in the Wimberley, San Marcos and Martindale areas, doing work like putting up sheetrock and moving felled trees. He says he and his fellow volunteers need all the help they can get.
“We’re looking for people to definitely bring gloves, bring good work boots, bring hats, sunscreen,” Roark says.
Starting today, another group, World Renew, will be going door-to-door in hard-hit neighborhoods to ask residents what help they still need. They’ll have temporary offices set up in Blanco, Wimberley and San Marcos through Sept. 25.
