Last night at the Incident Command Center, a young girl stopped by each of us working and handed out cookies. We started talking about Smokey the Bear etc... Turns out she lost everything in the fire and just felt the need to serve us. It was very touching. Texans are resilient. I've never met so many top notch people. The folks here inspire me to do a better job and be a better human being. I came here to help and I got so much more than that. 1400 homes gone, over 4000 people displaced and their spirit is pretty good.
Obama Declares State Of Emergency In Wildfire-Ravaged Texas
Nearly 1,400 Homes Destroyed In Bastrop County Since Wildfires Started There About 1 Week Ago
TEXAS WILDFIRES
- Video: Gov. Perry: 'Worst TX Fire Season Ever'
- Slideshow: Wildfire Evacuees Keep Tabs On Homes From Afar
- Slideshow: Texas Wildfire Grows Amid Hot, Windy Weather
- Link: Interactive: All About Wildfires
Texas Generosity Burns Brighter than Wildfires
Updated: Friday, 09 Sep 2011, 9:32 PM CDT
Published : Friday, 09 Sep 2011, 9:32 PM CDT
Published : Friday, 09 Sep 2011, 9:32 PM CDT
NED HIBBERD
My Fox Houston Reporter
My Fox Houston Reporter
HOUSTON - The wildfires have really knocked some of our neighbors a step back. But so many others are stepping forward.
People are pitching in, stocking up and dropping off – just because it’s the right thing to do.
Professional photographer Robert Calloway is volunteering his time taking photos of animals found in the fire zone and posting them to a Facebook page called “ Waller, Grimes, Montgomery Fire - Lost Pets and Livestock .”
“Soon as the animals come in, we want get pictures of them,” explains Calloway. “And if we can find out where they were picked up, we're just trying to get the information online so -- real time -- people can see what's going on and hopefully get reunited.”
Calloway is helping out at Baker Veterinary Clinic in Waller, which has become a go-to spot for displaced animals.
Owner Wendell Baker, DVM, says he’s been taking in subsidies as well as strays.
“We've gotten everything from sodas to dog leashes. So it's been really awesome.”
As he speaks, Anaicka Ortiz and her family drive up with a load of pet food and other items they just purchased from Sam’s Club.
Ortiz says she is trying to teach her son Angel the spirit of giving.
“It's the way I was raised,” she explains, “it's the way we're trying to raise him. If you see a need and you can do something about it then just do it.”
The pet food will be put to good use. Volunteers here have been told to expect as many as 500 dogs, rescued from behind the fire lines.
They’re hoping the owners soon turn up, as well.
“There is going to be a great possibility that we don't have claimed animals,” says animal liaison Karen Maresh. “So we're hoping to do some adoptions. We haven't worked that part out. But our goal is to find homes for these animals that are adoptable.”
Meantime, in Hempstead, a pink fire engine pulls up, and volunteers unload packs of bottled water.
The pink truck has led a convoy from Victoria, filled with food and clothing and other donations.
It’s been organized by Guardians of the Ribbon, a non-profit organization that normally helps people with cancer.
They parked the pink behemoth outside a south Texas grocery store, asking shoppers to bring out a little something for wildfire relief.
“We were going to load up the fire truck and bring it,” says Wendell Geigle. “We loaded that fire truck up five times over. We had to go get a U-Haul trailer to keep loading it up, the amount of the stuff that was coming in was just overwhelming.”
You can link to that Facebook page here:
THANKS 2 U ALL !!
Please take a moment to say a prayer for all these folks AND also for all those who died 10 years ago in the terroists attacks of 9-11 and in all the battles since protecting our freedoms!
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