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Grand Prairie Families on the Road to Recovery
American Red Cross and Faith-Based Organizations Partner to Rebuild Lives
Anita J. Foster, Special to RedCross.org
Monday, April 10, 2006 — When floodwaters rushed through the Willow Bend Mobile Home Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, last month, homes and lives were turned upside down. Reaching levels chest-high, the flash flood waters forced families from their tight-knit neighborhood and into the arms of the American Red Cross, waiting at the nearby Charley Taylor Recreation Center.
“Flooding is one of the costliest and deadliest of all natural disasters,” said Cheryl Sutterfield-Jones, chief executive officer, American Red Cross Dallas Area Chapter. “As we mobilized our resources and prepared to open shelters across Dallas/Fort Worth on the evening of March 19, we hoped that no lives would be lost in this round of flooding.”
Thankfully, lives were not lost, but property certainly was—more than 140 homes sustained damage covering some 50 miles from Arlington to Dallas. The Willow Bend Mobile Home Park, in the center of it all, received the hardest blow.
Elvia Rios, 56, has lived in the neighborhood for 11 years, originating from Matamoras, Mexico.
“When the water started rising, I went to the Red Cross shelter immediately,” said Rios. “I knew they would be there because they helped me two years ago when we flooded.”
Rios wasn’t sure what she and her family would do next. The water had destroyed their family home, which now reeked of the smell of mold and sported warped floors.
“We are very thankful to the Red Cross for giving us food and a place to stay,” she said. “But I don’t know what we do when the shelter closes.”
“We were very concerned about 20 of these families in Grand Prairie,” said Sutterfield-Jones. “Their homes were simply not livable and many of the families have small children. We knew we had to do something to help get the homes rebuilt, so we reached out to our national faith-based partners, and they jumped in with abandon.”
Seventh Day Adventist volunteers, disaster relief partners working with the Red Cross, begin installing new insulation in flooded homes in the Grand Prairie, Texas.
(Photo Credit: Anita J. Foster/American Red Cross)
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Through national Statements of Understanding, the American Red Cross has hundreds of partners that support Red Cross relief operations. A few of these national partnerships are with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), the Southern Baptist Convention and the Seventh Day Adventists.
“These partnerships work so well at the national level, so we called upon these groups to help us out locally,” said Sutterfield-Jones. “But rather than going to each group individually, we were fortunate to find a gentleman named Steve Rice with Christ United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas, who coordinated the entire faith-based response.”
Steve Rice is no stranger to disaster relief, having some 30 years of experience helping families following catastrophic events. After assessing the damage at the Willow Bend Mobile Home Park, Rice got on his cell phone and began contacting an army of volunteers from local Methodist churches, the Texas Baptist Men and volunteers with the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
“Our job was to work with the Red Cross to determine which homes were the highest priority for rebuilding,” said Rice. “After that, we immediately began renovations.”
Rice coordinated every aspect of the rebuilding phase and within a few weeks of the flood, work crews arrived armed with power tools, measuring tape and an abundance of determination. They began tearing out warped floors and drenched insulation, bringing peace of mind to local residents.
Back at the Red Cross shelter, Rios’ home was a high priority on the rebuilding list. She expressed her gratitude for everyone who was helping her get back home. She had been sleeping at the Red Cross shelter for 16 days, traveling back to the neighborhood to clean her home during the day.
“I am so thankful to the Red Cross, and to these workers who are helping,” said Rios. “We had nowhere to go, but now, we can go back home.”
Rice predicts that it will take about four weeks to complete the construction and renovations on the homes.
Volunteers from Red Cross disaster response partners, the Christ United Methodist Church, begin repairs in Grand Prairie, Texas, neighbhorhood after heavy rains and flood devastated the area last month.
(Photo Credit: Anita J. Foster/American Red Cross)
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“It’s not an overnight process, so we’ll do everything we can to get these folks back home just as soon as possible,” he said.
Sutterfield-Jones couldn’t be happier with the response of local faith-based organizations working with the Red Cross.
“It simply isn’t possible for one organization, like the Red Cross, to do everything that needs to be done for a family following a disaster,” she said. “That’s why these partnerships are so important. When we work together, side-by-side, we can accomplish so much more.”
Stopping at one home to check on the work crews, Rice was met by a teary-eyed homeowner who hugged him tightly and thanked him profusely.
“The floors in the home were being torn out and replaced that day,” said Rice. “There were holes everywhere, and she had a toddler who could have easily fallen through the floor and gotten seriously hurt,” said Rice. “No one deserves to live in those kinds of conditions, and that’s why we do what we do. We help people when they need help. It’s just that simple.”
The Red Cross expresses sincere gratitude to the United Methodist Committee on Relief, participating local Methodist churches, the Texas Baptist Men and the Seventh Day Adventist Church for their commitment to helping families recover from disaster.
Following the March 19 flooding, the American Red Cross chapters in Dallas and Fort Worth operated four safe shelters, helped 117 families with financial assistance, utilized 107 Red Cross workers, served 9,643 meals and snacks and distributed 275 clean-up kits. Expenses for the flood relief operation total $155,000, of which $40,000 has been raised through donations. To make a financial gift to the National Disaster Relief Fund, please call 1-800-HELP-NOW or make a secure online donation at www.redcross.org.
Anita J. Foster is the Metroplex Communications Officer for the American Red Cross in Dallas/Fort Worth.
All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like the Midwest ice storms, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation. Call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.
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