Donating to Hurricane Harvey Relief - Proud to Be a Texan

Even though I was born and raised in Louisiana, Texas is my home. Both of my girls were born here in Austin and most of my years of teaching were here in Texas. And, my husband's family lives in Houston and Beaumont. So, you can understand the personal impact this disaster has had on our family. As I look at ways people have been Donating to Hurricane Harvey Relief, it makes me so proud to be a Texan.

Even though this has been such a horrible tragedy for so many people (which includes our relatives and close friends), I've seen so many positive things going around the state and our community.

Bake Sale

Parents and children at our church worked together to bake cinnamon rolls to sell for the Hurricane Relief Fund of Austin. They are baking more cookies and cinnamon rolls to sell. UPDATE: These children made $6000! Amazing!

Fill the Truck!

One of my former students posted on Facebook that he was taking a truck to Houston. His hashtag was #fillthetruck. Within 24 hours, our Westlake community joined together to help Cord fill three trucks. All of the supplies went directly to a shelter in Brookshire that had just opened.

Quiet Bags

Students at my granddaughter's school made "quiet bags" for children at shelters. My daughter and Harper put coloring books, paperback books, crayons, and games in ziploc bags to entertain the children.

Helping Our 4-Legged Friends

Austin Pets Alive opened a shelter for dogs and cats from Houston. Our volunteer list quickly filled up through the end of next week. Volunteers are helping to take care of the pets, find them homes, and walk them around the shelter. Tomlinson's Pet Store is even matching funds up to $10,000 to help take care and feed displaced animals.

I'm not posting these good deeds just to show the generosity of our community, but to also share life lessons that children learn from doing good things for others. Our children are learning compassion, empathy, acceptance, giving to others, working with others for a purpose, and so much more. So, thank you to those who have Donated to Hurricane Harvey Relief - From a Proud Texan.