J's father recently passed away so she and her family were in India for her father's funeral. They returned to Houston on Saturday, August 26th. Exhausted from travel, they went to bed that night knowing absolutely nothing of Hurricane Harvey. When their youngest daughter woke up on Sunday morning and went to get breakfast, she found almost a foot of water in their apartment and said "Mommy! Water!"
In addition to the flooding in their apartment, their two cars were completely submerged. J's husband is a taxi driver and one of the cars was his work vehicle. On Saturday, September 2nd - a week after the storm began and just days after the rain stopped - the apartment complex they live in notified them that there is no more room in the complex. They were told that J and her family will have to find a new place to live.
J is a very humble woman and keeps saying that they are the "lucky ones". She says that they have family and prayer. J would never ask for a thing, and when asked if we could share her story with friends who wanted to help, she said "Yes, please. Ask for prayer. We need prayer".
In addition to prayer - or perhaps as a result of it - our desire is to meet some of their basic material needs. Just seeing the flooded, discarded pile of the children's well loved stuffed animals is enough to break anyone's heart.
I am working together with a neighbor of J who reached out to me with her story to get the family what they need to start their life over. The biggest help for J and her family right now would be gift cards. Target, Wal-Mart, HEB, Kroger, Bed Bath and Beyond, Old Navy, and Toys R Us are a good start.
A neighbor of J is going to collect these particular donations. If you would like to send this particular family donations, please email me at katiecortes79@yahoo.com and a mailing address will be provided to you.
We assure you that 100 percent of donations will go directly to J and her family and will post updates. Thank you so much for your kindness!
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