“I’m proud of the things we’ve done, but Houston gave us the infrastructure to do it.” Austin Dickson, CEO of Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country When disaster strikes, it reveals a lot about a community and about the people who choose to show up. The July 2025 floods in the Texas Hill Country brought […]
JMAT Bernal
Light on the Hill: 469 households reached, 200 more this week, and a food pantry Monday morning
Before Beth Palmer ran disaster recovery operations for Kerr County, she was Coach Palmer in the Ingram ISD gym. She has spent the past two years watching former students walk into the disaster recovery center at Light on the Hill at Mount Wesley to apply for emergency financial assistance — and greeting her as “Coach […]
Airbnb.org Donates Emergency Housing for Disaster Relief
Sarah Sherr woke to the smell of smoke at 3:30 a.m. on January 8, 2025. Pregnant, she was two weeks from her due date. She shook her husband awake, packed up their malamute and border collie, and drove away from their West Altadena home before he even had time to put on a shirt. By […]
‘Complete opposite’ | Donations lag as Texas Hill Country continues to deal with flood damage
AUSTIN, Texas — Nearly two months after floodwaters swept through parts of the Texas Hill Country, the water has receded, but the damage left behind remains. Organizations helping families and businesses recover say the need is significant. However, the donations and volunteers they are seeing following this summer’s flooding have not matched the response following […]
Kerr Together provides flood assistance update
Kelly Hagemeier, disaster program manager for Kerr Together, updated the Hill Country Community Journal last week on the progress made and the remaining challenges in providing help and guidance for flood victims in this area through the Kerr Together office. “Initially we had about 100 private roads in the county with damage. Residents of those […]
Heart of the Hills Heritage Center: the flood exhibit isn’t ready. It won’t be for 5 to 10 years. That’s exactly right.
Angela Kennedy made a decision after the July 4, 2025, flood that most institutions would have made differently. The Heart of the Hills Heritage Center would not rush to open a flood exhibit. The center received a specialized Rebuild Kerr grant from the Community Foundation to build a comprehensive archive of both the 2025 and […]
Habitat for Humanity Kerr County went from building 3 houses a year to rebuilding 30. Most of them held in the second flood.
On Monday, Aug. 24, the final family displaced by the July 4, 2025, flood will move into a new home built by Habitat for Humanity of Kerr County. The furniture went in Thursday. The Arcadia Recovery Collaboration and Four Premier Properties served as the design team for the final interior install. Baylee Parks, Habitat’s Community […]
H.E. Butt Foundation: 6,000 hours of recorded history, a 1,900-acre Frio River ranch, and a 3 a.m. phone call on July 16
Marcus Goodyear woke up at 3 a.m. on July 16. The H.E. Butt Foundation’s camps on the Frio River — 1,900 acres along the headwaters, roughly 15 miles north of Leakey — sit in a canyon that floods fast. Goodyear got on the phone with the canyon spotters and started working. By the time families […]
The flood took her rental. The community helped her buy a house
KERRVILLE, Texas — Valerie Tucker woke to pounding on the front door at 2:30 a.m. She and her husband had been asleep in their rental home in Hunt, Texas, right along the Guadalupe River. It was July 4, 2025, and the homeowner’s son came to tell them the river was rising rapidly. “‘We gotta go. […]
Buc-ee’s admits it can give away cash benefits for customers – all you have to do is fill out a form
BUC-EE’s has rolled out a way for customers to claim cash benefits. Eligible participants simply have to fill out a form to be considered. Buc-ee’s is offering donations to nonprofits in communities where the gas station supercenter operates. To request a contribution, nonprofits have to fill out a form on the chain’s website. The organization must share how the […]