On Thursday, July 10, a multi-vehicle convoy carrying $50,000 worth of supplies and $10,000 worth of gift cards left the Crossroads area bound for Kerr County. The major community donation and delivery was organized by members of Parkway Church in Victoria, Port Lavaca and Cuero, Lifeway Church and Cuero Community Hospital.

 

Local partners such as Alamo Lumber contributed to the organization of the efforts as well.  

 

The organizers developed a list of needed items based on information they received from contacts in the Kerrville area. Staff from the Cuero Hospital decided to donate items from the list as an organization. The hospital opened a drop-off spot where community members could donate as well.

 

“[The convoy] showed the incredible amount of support that we have as business members here in town,” Tamara Kainer, Cuero Hospital marketing and business development director, said. “We are a family, a very close-knit community. It shows the hearts of everyone. When there’s something to be done, we get it done, and when there’s a need, we definitely meet it to the best of our abilities.”

 

The convoy was composed of seven vehicles including a Cuero Hospital transport ambulance and a firefighter escort arranged by Cuero Fire Chief Billy Fowler. The convoy’s journey was birthed from a community desire to provide urgently needed supplies to victims of the severe flooding in Central Texas. 

 

“It was a humbling and powerful moment to witness people waving and cheering in every small town from Cuero through Gonzales and beyond,” Jeni Garrett, convoy organizer with Parkway Church, said. “We were simply the stewards of this community’s overwhelming generosity.”

 

The first stop on the convoy’s journey was a warehouse in Marble Falls, where Cuero Hospital dropped-off needed supplies. As the delivery team moved toward Kerrville, they stopped to pray and ask for God to guide them to the people who were most desperately in need. 

 

“At that exact moment, we met a woman from the Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief team who was alone and had no supplies but knew of families in desperate need in Leander,” Garrett said. “Following her lead, we journeyed through narrow roads, rickety bridges, and steep hill country terrain—pulling donated trailers from Port Lavaca—and found ourselves on an 18-mile stretch of devastation.”

 

The convoy spent the rest of the day setting up relief stations across the 18-mile stretch. Individuals from across the state made trips to provide support and help in any way they could including a young missionary from Dallas, a landscaper from Houston and a young man who previously attended Victoria East, Garrett said.

 

The next morning, the convoy encountered search and rescue teams with cadaver dogs along the embankment of their first station. The teams located the remains of a flood victim in the trees, making the tragedy of the situation all the more real.

 

“I’ve never experienced God’s presence so clearly and powerfully in my lifetime,” Garrett said. “We weren’t the leaders, we were the stewards of a blessing that originated with the Crossroads community, and this is just the beginning.”

 

Families affected by the floods continue to be in need of a number of essential items: generators, heavy-duty walkie-talkies, extension cords, dehumidifiers, water, food and volunteer assistance for cleanup and rebuilding. Many of these families do not have insurance and are living without power, communication or the ability to ask for help, Garrett said.

 

The Cuero community and organizers of the convoy are planning a return to Central Texas to deliver more resources and provide additional assistance. The Cuero Development Corporation and the Cuero Hospital are currently collecting gift cards to be donated. Various community churches, 4H clubs and FFA clubs are collecting donations as well.

 

“There’s more being done; this isn’t the only effort,” Kainer said. “This is just one of the efforts being done. Whether it’s something small, whether it’s something grand, we each have a part to play and everyone is wanting to participate. Our efforts weren’t any better than anyone else at this time that is truly pouring their heart out.”