The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country has spent the past year helping to heal and recover a single wounded community, helping Kerr County families rebuild after one of the most devastating floods in its history. This week, that mission spread across an entire region with another historic flood ravaging many parts of the Texas Hill Country.
Catastrophic flooding sent more than 26 inches of rainfall surging through parts of Kerr County on the morning of July 16, and the damage did not stop at the county line. Communities across the Community Foundation’s 10-county service area; Bandera, Blanco, Edwards, Gillespie, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Mason, Real and Uvalde counties; are now grappling with washed-out homes, crippled businesses and battered infrastructure.
In response, the foundation announced this week that it has launched the Texas Hill Country Flood Relief Fund, a new regional effort to support recovery across all 10 counties, expanding on the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund it created after last year’s flooding.
“Our heart is with every family, every household, every small business, and every community throughout the Hill Country that’s facing deep uncertainty today,” Austin Dickson, CEO of The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, said Thursday during a virtual media availability.
Dickson said the foundation has not yet issued any grants from the new fund and is still working to understand the scope of the damage. Foundation staff are consulting nonprofit organizations, local officials and community partners across the region to identify the most urgent needs, he said. The foundation has also posted a needs assessment on its social media channels for affected households to complete.
“Right now, our priority is understanding the most urgent needs on the ground,” Dickson said.
Two separate funds
Dickson addressed questions about whether the foundation’s new regional fund would divert money away from ongoing Kerr County recovery efforts tied to the 2025 flood. He said donations to the original Kerr County Flood Relief Fund remain committed to the purposes donors intended, with the majority still earmarked for long-term recovery work in that county. A total of $82 million of the total $150 million available has been allocated thus far and more than 130 families have returned home.
The foundation is also reaching out directly to families and organizations it has already helped, Dickson said, to determine whether previous grantees have suffered new damage.
“We are talking with previous grantee organizations as well as our grantee nonprofits that work with case managers, and case managers work with flood survivor families,” Dickson said, adding that outreach calls began Wednesday and are continuing. The foundation expects to complete a fuller damage assessment within a few weeks, he said.
Dickson said he expects housing assistance to again emerge as the greatest need, mirroring what the foundation learned during the 2025 recovery. Temporary housing, relocation help and home repairs are already surfacing as priorities in early needs-assessment responses, he said.
He also pointed to a less visible but urgent task now underway across the region: clearing mud and debris from flooded homes and businesses, work responders call “muck and gut.”
“It’s messy business, it’s urgent business, and it needs to be taken care of soon because it creates mold and other damaging elements in structures and homes and businesses,” Dickson said, noting that volunteer crews are already fanning out across Hill Country communities to do the work.
Dickson said even small donations make a difference, noting the majority of gifts the foundation received last year fell in the $10 to $50 range. Fifty dollars, he said, can help feed a family, fund a new fence or support muck-and-gut work for a damaged home.
A different type of flood
Kerrville and other more urban parts of the Hill Country are seeing significant damage to civic infrastructure, including pipes, roads and bridges, Dickson said. Local businesses have also taken on heavy water and debris damage.
The foundation has previously partnered with the Lift Fund, a San Antonio-based nonprofit focused on business recovery, to support Kerr County businesses after the 2025 flood, and it is exploring an expanded partnership as it assesses new damage, Dickson said. Kerr Together, the county’s long-term recovery group, and its partner Global Empowerment Mission are also conducting a business damage inventory, he said.
Responding to a question about how residents in Uvalde County can access aid, Dickson said the foundation has deep roots there, with board members, staff and advisory council members who live and work in the county.
“So Uvalde will very much have a decision-making role in how (new) funds are allocated and spent,” Dickson said.
Asked whether donors who gave generously after the 2025 flood might hesitate to give again so soon, Dickson said the foundation understands the concern but noted this year’s need spans a much larger area.
“The need this year is expansive. It’s across a much broader region,” Dickson said, adding that the foundation received more than 100,000 individual donations during last year’s recovery effort. He said he understands if some past donors choose not to give again but encouraged anyone moved to help to consider the new fund.
Recovery, Dickson said, will not end quickly.
“Recovery doesn’t end when the floodwaters recede. It only begins, and it will continue for months, if not years,” he said.
Residents and organizations can find more information and the foundation’s needs assessment through The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country’s website and social media channels.
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