Hurricane Harvey from a Texas Native's Perspective

Dear CUCC family and friends,

Please read this news from Texas native and  new CUCCer, Mike Cline about details in the greater Houston area post Hurricane Harvey and the many avenues through which we can respond to disaster relief efforts there:

"My friends and family are so far okay. Grace is in San Antonio and luckily San Antonio didn't get much of the storm as they had expected.  My ex-wife, Amy, is in League City which is near Galveston.  As of yesterday evening she was safe and dry.

Houston is so spread out that what one person can experience is so much different than the other.  But most are with 1) dry for now but watching as the rain comes down and the water rises hoping that there will be a lull in the storm and just stuck in their house waiting everything out; 2) having to evacuate to higher ground (our Rabbi and his family had to evacuate their home and break into the 2 story unoccupied house next door and then were eventually rescued by a boat crew from California); 3) bringing in others to their own home; 4) working in the shelters or other rescue efforts.  

Houston is on flat land and there is just not anywhere for the water to go. And then when you experience your yearly total of water in just a few days, well, there is just nowhere that can handle that volume. 

In perspective, there are about 10 million people living in North Carolina today.  The Houston metro area is about 6.8 million total.  A little more than 4 million live in Harris County (the central city county) and a little more than 2 million live in Houston.  

If people want to help out, here is a list of groups in Houston that are either working on the immediate impacts or will be helping in the recovery effort after the storm:"

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HILpv4MTG0cu1966-MHMlKkemdWb-zFiMuo8wQ4pdjE/mobilebasic

Spirit is leading the way,

Rev. Jenny Shultz-Thomas