It’s been more than a week since the floods in Texas left 131 dead and catastrophic damage in its wake. In Kerrville, streets are packed with volunteers who have come to help with recovery work. Donation centers have popped up in parking lots and businesses.
Maranatha Christian Center, a bilingual church a few blocks away from the Guadalupe River is one of those improvised donations centers. The church is helping a specific population: the local Hispanic community.
On a recent Saturday afternoon the center’s parking lot was full. People loaded their cars with whatever they needed. Inside the center, kids ran around while women looked through piles of clothes and men moved packs of canned food, juices and water.
People talked, mostly in Spanish, finding support in one another. Some have loved ones who died or have family or friends in the hospital. Others lost everything they owned.
Pastor Joel De Leon, who is in charge of this operation along with his wife Lilian De Leon, said he didn’t plan for the church to become a donation center, it just happened. He said he received endless phone calls on July Fourth from other people in other cities.
“It was all so fast, it was even people who I didn’t know,” De Leon said. “People called and said ‘we want to help.’”
The church has received clothes, food, water and cleaning supplies. People came from San Antonio and Houston to volunteer. Neighbors and parishioners also showed up.
Congregation member Lily Lozano's sister lost everything in the floods. While Lozano helps her sister, she has also been showing up to the church most days to help others. She said she feels called to do so because of her faith.
“We’re seeing a lot of pain in people, we’re seeing a lot of need,” Lozano said in Spanish. “But here we are, trying to bless people and mitigate their pain.”
Maranatha is a Hispanic serving church that welcomes anybody who needs help. Volunteers make calls to neighbors and post on social media to let people know that Maranatha is a safe space. De Leon hopes word of mouth will bring more people in.
That’s how Delmis, an immigrant from Honduras who lives in Kerrville, heard about the help that Maranatha was offering. She is in the country without legal status, so KUT is only using her first name because she fears for her safety.
After the floods, Delmis said it was upsetting to see the scope of the damage.
“I was in shock to see how it all happened from one moment to another,” she said in Spanish.
Seeing her community affected made her seek solace, so she went to the place that has given her a home as an immigrant, her church. Delmis is a member of a different congregation, but that’s where she learned about Maranatha.
That afternoon she searched through the piles of donated clothes with her sister. She also hoped to get some groceries for her family. While they weren’t directly affected by the floods, Delmis said she was too scared to go to work those first few days after because of the increase in law enforcement officials.
Along with volunteers and rescue teams, state and federal law enforcement also flocked to the area. State troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety, who are helping with immigration enforcement, are a common sight around Kerrville after the flood.
With immigration enforcement ramping up around the country, seeing so many law enforcement officials in the streets made Delmis uneasy, she said.
“We go out in fear because now we see even more police,” Delmis said.
She was already concerned about immigration enforcement, but after the floods, she said she leaves her home with even more fear of being deported.
“At any moment they can stop us, and if they ask us for our documents… we don’t have any,” she said.
Pastor De Leon is aware of how some people are feeling. He is trying to keep the community at ease and meeting people where they are. He said if anybody needs the church to bring food, cleaning supplies or any other kind of help to their home, volunteers will come.
“We’re not going to just stay within these four walls,” De Leon said. “Our heart is the community, our heart is to go out and bring some peace.”
De Leon said he feels like they are not doing enough for his community, but the congregation is trying its best.
They don’t ask if people were victims of the flood or if they are there because they are going through a rough patch. They won't ask, but will offer hope and a shoulder to cry on.
“Not only are we here to give, but we're here to pray, we're here to listen,” De Leon said. “We are here to comfort, we are here to love. That’s what I’m called to do.”
