Hurricane Harvey Response Updates

September 6, 2017

HOPE worldwide has been on the ground in Houston, Texas meeting needs and actively organizing volunteer efforts. The Dallas and San Antonio Chapters have sent groups of volunteers and supplies to help Houstonians recover. HOPE worldwide and the Greater Houston Church are currently working with countless displaced families and individuals who have lost their homes, their cars and their livelihood for the time being.

Austin Wright, a student at the University of Texas San Antonio, started his internship with HOPE ww by organizing 51 volunteers from San Antonio to help with the Harvey relief efforts! The volunteer group was a diverse mixture of college students, young professionals, singles and married couples. They helped six different families in northern and western Houston clear out the debris from their homes.

Teams of volunteers gutted houses and took ruined furniture to the curb as you can see in some of the photos. They ripped up flooring, removed base moldings and cut out damaged sheet rock.. Some houses had to have two to three feet of sheet rock cut out as that reflected how high the flood waters invaded their houses. In all the neighborhoods, people were working on Labor Day to gut their houses and begin the slow process of rebuilding their houses and their lives.

August 30, 2017

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The devastation from Hurricane Harvey continues to be felt throughout Texas and Louisiana, as heavy rains and catastrophic flooding are expecting to continue for days. Although the full extent of the damage and death toll will not be clear for some time, we know that this storm is unprecedented. HOPE worldwide was able to deploy our HotNews team to Houston and they are gathering footage from the devastation as we speak.

HOPE worldwide is on the scene in Texas and Louisiana and already responding. In the few days since this storm made landfall, the HOPE worldwide disaster response team made an early needs assessment and started helping to supply food, water, and tools for many affected by the storm. HOPE worldwide is now actively preparing to mobilize our network of amazing volunteers to continue to deliver aid and implement more extensive clean-up and recovery efforts. These efforts are made possible by compassionate donors from around the world and in conjunction with our network of nonprofit partners.

Many of our HOPE worldwide community members in Houston have been affected and we are getting reports of total material loss from many families. There are an untold number of homes and people affected, and the additional flooding and rainfall is set to make the situation even worse. It is already apparent that recovering from this disaster will take years, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

HOPE worldwide has boots on the ground in Houston and we will be able to mobilize our volunteers to meet specific needs.

We will keep you posted!

The HOPE worldwide Team

August 29, 2017

"This disaster is going to be a landmark event." That's how the head of FEMA described the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. "This is a storm that the United States has not seen yet," he added.

I’ve lived in Houston for a total of nine years, and have witnessed many incredible storms, hurricanes, and even tornadoes, but nothing close to Hurricane Harvey. The destruction will be as nothing seen before in the U.S.

This morning, a local official called the flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey "an 800-year event." The National Weather Service described the damage as "unprecedented" and "beyond anything experienced." According to the Insurance Information Institute, flood damage may equal that of Hurricane Katrina, the costliest natural disaster in United States history.

We ask and thank you all for your fervent prayers on our behalf! We could see as much as 50 inches of rain, and many of our members will have their homes flooded. The cleanup will be a massive undertaking, perhaps taking years. Your love and support means so much to us here in Houston.

We are grateful that as far as we know all of the disciples in our churches are safe and many are helping their neighbors. We mourn with the families who have lost loved ones.

We know that we serve an amazing omnipotent God who cares and who can! I have every confidence that the Greater Houston Church will come through this trial with faith and love as we live out Phillipians 2:14-16: " Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, 'children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.' Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain."

We look forward to glorifying our God as we serve our community in the coming weeks, and know many of you will be joining us in doing so. Please keep us in your prayers and God bless.

Doug Wens
Lead Evangelist, Greater Houston Church