The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country Chief Executive Officer Austin Dickson began last Thursday’s news conference with a quote from the Bible and the statement, “Even in our darkest moments, we are never alone,” highlighting the hope and resilience of the residents of the now three counties in the Foundation’s service area that suffered horrific damage from the July 16 flood.
The most recent flood occurred just one year after a disastrous flood hit Kerr County and the cities of Kerrville, Ingram and Comfort and the unincorporated communities of Hunt and Center Point.
After last year’s flood took lives, destroyed homes, closed businesses and changed entire communities forever, including ours in Kerrville, this year’s flood struck areas that last year’s flood had spared, especially inside the city limits of Kerrville, Dickson pointed out. This year, flood damage happened in other areas of the Texas Hill Country. Damage estimates are expected to far surpass the amount calculated from last year’s flood.
“For many survivors it felt like they were living the worst day of their lives all over again. To every family that was impacted by these floods, we see you and we grieve with you, especially the three families who lost loved ones in the recent July 16 flood, and we remain committed to walk alongside these families as long as it takes,” Dickson said.
Not only did many areas of Kerr County flood again after many were already restored, but floodwaters from tributaries and creeks that flow into the Guadalupe River also inundated new areas that saw little or no flooding in last July’s storm.
On Thursday, Dickson announced the next phase of recovery help from the Foundation will include $18 million of emergency financial assistance for flood-affected households and small businesses impacted in Kerr, Uvalde and Real counties, which are counties impacted in the area served by the Foundation.
The Foundation has established four priorities for the $18 million immediate recovery commitment for emergency allocation, including:
• Emergency financial assistance for families;
• Housing recovery;
• Small business assistance, and;
• Long-term recovery.
“Small businesses like the one whose parking lot we stand on today are the backbone of every Hill Country community. They are essential to long-term recovery and the local economy. When small businesses recover, then their families also recover,” Dickson said.
Dickson announced the Lyft Fund will receive a $5 million grant to help local businesses in Kerr County, which Dickson described as “a significant investment in small business recovery.”
Gibson’s store manager Doug Hetzler spoke on behalf of local small businesses and said last year’s flood only caused a dumpster to float away, but this year’s flood caused significant damage to the entire store. Work to restore and reopen has been ongoing since the day of the flood, with store employees and volunteers working long hours to clean and restore the store’s inventory.
“Small businesses like ours don’t have the luxury to push pause. We don’t have the corporate backing from some other state where we can just keep going. This is significant for us. To my fellow business owners, don’t try to do it alone. You have help. You have resources. Apply for assistance. The Hill Country has always been a place where neighbors help neighbors. We will get through this one again and open our doors right back up, and these small businesses will get right back to it,” Hetzler said.
Dickson said housing recovery is one of the longest, most expensive and most complex parts of the recovery. He said that part of the recovery requires trusted partners, coordination and walking alongside families every step of the way. According to Dickson, disaster case managers are already working with the victims of the most recent flood and expanding services to meet the needs of those families.
“Today the Foundation is committing an additional $11.3 million toward housing support efforts in Kerr County,” Dickson said. He also said the Foundation has already secured additional funding to help families in the Uvalde area who lost homes or whose homes the flood damaged.
“Our partner Kerr Together has played a vital role in bringing organizations together, coordinating resources and making sure families don’t have to navigate recovery on their own,” Dickson said as he introduced Kerr Together’s Todd Bock, executive director of the Kerr Economic Development Corporation.
Bock said the past two years the Guadalupe River has changed the lives of residents of Kerr County forever, but “in those darkest moments, something remarkable happened. Neighbor helped neighbor, volunteers from all over showed up, local organizations came together, and our community made a promise, not just to respond to a disaster, but to recover together, and that promise became Kerr Together.”
Bock said the various groups who came together had one common shared goal: to coordinate recovery, not fragment it.
“Today no family or business owner has to navigate this alone. Today that work continues at the Kerr Together Disaster Relief Center located at 98 Coronado. This has become a central hub, a one-stop shop, as we call it, for recovery, for connecting thousands of residents and businesses with services and support where they can get it,” Bock said.
He urged anyone impacted by the recent flood to come to 98 Coronado.
“That’s where we can connect you with the most current resources. We have counselors on site, we have volunteer local staff and, quite frankly, we get to see all survivors in a room knowing they are not alone. Our partnerships that we have built over the past year are ready to continue the mission after the most recent flood,” Bock stressed.
Bock said families are receiving help faster than a year ago and are receiving help filling out the important iSAT forms that will help get more local aid for flood victims. He also stressed that families who need help getting their homes cleaned out after the flood can get help from various groups, including nonprofits, volunteer groups and other sources that Kerr Together coordinates, and he encouraged people to contact them.
Dickson said one of the most significant investments the Foundation has made over the past year has been in mental health help for flood victims, both adults and children, and for first responders whom last year’s flood affected. He pointed out that mental health services were already in place and have already been working with the victims of this year’s flood. The Foundation has invested in 13 different nonprofits in the past year to provide mental health help for those in need.
Todd Citron, from the Hill Country Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities program, said the program has already set up a center for persons needing counseling in the old Schreiner Bank building at 817 Water Street.
“To everyone who has been affected by these floods, I want to speak directly to you for a moment. Over the past few weeks many of you have experienced things that no one should ever have to experience. Some of you have lost loved ones, others have lost your homes, your businesses. The feelings you once felt have been dramatically impacted. Even if you weren’t directly impacted, watching your community suffer can leave a lasting mark,” Citron said.
“When the cleanup is done and the volunteers have gone home, that’s when the reality settles in. You may find yourself having a hard time sleeping, you may find yourself anxious every time storm clouds roll in, you may have trouble concentrating or feel overwhelmed, or simply not like the way you feel about yourself. Parents worry about their children, and children worry about their parents. First responders carry memories with them long after the emergency is over. If any of that sounds familiar, I want you to know what you are feeling is normal and not a sign of weakness. It is a very human response after living through something as traumatic as we’ve been through last July and then again this July. You do not have to carry that burden alone,” Citron said.
He added that Hill Country MHDD is ready to work with anyone who needs help and support and stressed that people can just walk in and don’t need an appointment.
Dickson said the Foundation has made a commitment of $1.7 million for emergency financial assistance to families who need it “right now, in this moment.” Four nonprofits will provide emergency financial assistance across the Hill Country to flood victims.
Those four agencies are Hill Country Needs Council in Fredericksburg, Hill Country Family Services in Boerne, Catholic Charities in Uvalde and Light on the Hill in Kerrville. He encouraged anyone needing help through one of these agencies to complete the “needs assessment” using the QR code or on the web at RebuildTexasHillCountry.org.
“You will be contacted by one of those agencies,” Dickson said. He introduced representatives from Catholic Charities, who will work with victims in the Uvalde area and who spoke about what Catholic Charities has already provided to victims in both Uvalde and Real counties.
Dickson said 97 percent of the funds being used this year are coming from donations from last year after donors expanded the use of their gift to help both the 2025 and 2026 flood victims.
“Thank God we were better prepared than we were a year ago. We can go farther faster. Recovery is always in motion. It’s just another chapter in the story. Recovery is a promise to the community. We will finish what we started,” Dickson added.
In response to further questions from the conference attendees about whether the changes would impact victims from last year’s flooding in Kerr County, Dickson responded.
“We remain committed to walking beside those families impacted in 2025 as long as needed. The recovery wasn’t finished but was actually working. Those investments have made a tremendous difference. As the needs of the community evolve, we will continue to anticipate those challenges and meet those new needs as they emerge,” Dickson said.
Dickson stressed that families the Foundation is helping from last year’s flood will see no changes and that assistance for this year’s flood victims will not affect them.
“The promises we made will continue. We are not choosing between last year’s survivors and this year’s survivors. We stand with both,” Dickson emphasized strongly.
He noted that last year’s, and now this year’s, experiences have strengthened the nonprofit network and provided upgrades to volunteer fire departments and law enforcement, which “prepared us for where we are today.” Dickson noted that the sheriff’s office used its swift water rescue boat to rescue people from the July 16 flood, and other improvements to the ability to respond efficiently and effectively by other first responder entities in the area made them better able to respond this year.
The Foundation has now established a Texas Hill Country Relief Fund, separate from the Kerr County Relief Fund established last year to support long-term recovery in Kerr County. Community foundations connect generosity with local needs. This fund will support trusted nonprofit and civic partners in the multi-county area, providing emergency assistance, rebuilding support and long-term recovery.
People or organizations wishing to donate can go online to www.RebuildKerr.org to donate for the July 2025 flood victims or go to www.RebuildTexasHillCountry.org to donate to the July 2026 victims. Look for the specific fund to receive your donation online. All donations are tax deductible.
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