KERR COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — One year after devastating flooding took dozens of lives and changed the landscape of the Texas Hill Country, survivors and loved ones of victims are still recovering.
“This one year mark is really signaling that our community and our lives are always going to be changed,” said Austin Dickson, CEO of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country. The 501c(3) public charity, based in Kerrville, has organized recovery efforts since July 4, 2025 — collecting donations, deciding how to distribute those funds and mobilizing volunteers.
“Sorting through that, both as a community and individually, is a challenge that we’ll be working through for some time,” he continued.
Anyone is welcome to get involved in the following ways:
Volunteer opportunities
Rebuilding people’s homes, moving debris and environmental restoration have been the focus for the Community Foundation since the historic flooding event.
Anyone who wants to participate can call 830-315-1002 or reach out via a form on the Kerr Together website.
Closer to Austin, contacting the Hill Country Alliance or the San Antonio Botanical Garden are also options. “Both of them need armies of volunteers this fall, especially to plant seeds and to plant trees,” said Dickson.Volunteers plant trees to rebuild lands damaged in July 4 floods
Donations
Donations to the Kerr County Relief Fund are still being accepted via the Community Foundation’s website. They can also be mailed to their office at 241 Earl Garrett St., Kerrville, Texas, 78028.
“We have used data and community-level information to deploy all those resources in the form of grants to local nonprofits to help people get back in their homes, to help people heal through mental health, to rebuild civic entities like parks, our schools, our senior center, our nature center, our little league fields and also to restore the environment,” Dickson said, “All of those donations have been put to amazing use through grants.”
The organization requests checks be made out to the “Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country” with “Kerr County Flood Relief Fund” in the memo line.
Donations specific to environmental restoration are still being collected by Hope for the Guadalupe. Those funds will specifically be used for things like planting seeds, bushes and trees, much of which were ravaged by floodwaters.
To make mental health-specific gifts, Dickson invites the public to donate directly to the Christi Center or Austin Child Guidance Center.
The community is able to track how funds are being distributed to each organization via the Community Foundation’s website: Rebuild Kerr.
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