It’s been 235 days since July 4, 2025, when devastating floods claimed 137 lives in the Texas Hill Country.
We tend to remember tragedies on milestone dates – one year since the flood, five years since the storm – but people who lived through these moments need help every day.
The Kerr County Flood Relief Fund was established on the day of the disaster and continues to provide resources to those who need support.
Holiday weekend turned catastrophic
“We were excited for a holiday weekend with family, and it just didn’t go that way. It became, probably, the most consequential day of our lives,” said Austin Dickson, the CEO of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country.
The damage from July 4, 2025, is lasting. Some scars are visible. Others remain hidden.
“Grief and trauma have spread all over Texas due to the unique nature of this disaster and so many people not being from the area where they passed away,” said Dickson.
Ripples of loss across Texas
One hundred thirty‑seven lives lost. One hundred thirty‑seven families grieving. One hundred thirty‑seven friends missing from tables. The ripples of that day continue to spread across the state.
Dickson said he knew early that morning he needed to be ready to act.
“That morning we created the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund,” he said.
Millions raised for long‑term recovery
The fund has raised more than $150 million so far, with $60 million already distributed to help people rebuild and move forward.
“We serve in a community alongside schools and churches who had children who died in the flooding,” said Dr. Brad Schwall, president and CEO of the Center for Integrative Counseling and Psychology.
The group has provided counseling and grief services to the North Texas community since day one.
Counseling support for children and families
Grants from the Kerr County Relief Fund allow them to continue serving families.
“We went and spoke within churches to children to give them the opportunity to begin processing what is unimaginable,” said Schwall.
Dickson and Schwall want people in the Hill Country and North Texas to know that help is available — and that while some wounds never fully leave us, healing is possible.
Hope and grief can coexist
“What we’ve learned is we can be hopeful and grieving at the same time. There’s a lot of hope. There’s home being repaired and rebuilt, there are routines that are coming back to normal,” said Dickson. “These little things are helping people feel as if help has arrived.”
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