Returning outside after a dinner break, her grandson’s excited shouts alerted Laura to Clark’s presence high in a neighbor’s tree. The bird was making fearful sounds because of a dog below. “It was the first dog he had ever seen.” Despite attempts to coax him down, Clark didn’t budge. “Remembering that he responds to the color white, I grabbed a roll of paper towels, prompting him to fly to another nearby house and away from the dog.”

“With permission, I rolled his cage into their yard and resumed my coaxing efforts. Clark eventually settled in the tree for a nap, adding to the chaos of hurricane recovery as I fretted about losing him in the dark. No one had lights, and spotting him would get harder.”

When Laura stepped into a pile of fire ants and began trying to shake them off her feet, it scared Clark into flying toward home and landing in her neighbor’s tree across the street.

“He could see from his perch that we were rolling his cage home. All of a sudden, he made this loud noise that usually comes right before he lands on my shoulder. This time, he landed on our RV camper. As my husband went to get his fishing net, Clark climbed down to his cage. He put himself in and shut the door. Then he started eating and looked at me like nothing had happened.”

“Thank God he came back before dark. It was a nightmare, but we learned a huge lesson. Now I’m on super alert because I know he has a taste of the outdoors and flying high.”

Clark is quite the chatterbox. Among his phrases are, ‘What are you doing?’, ‘C’mere, baby,’ ‘Thank you,’ ‘Ouch,’ and ‘Kitty Cat,’ while calling the family’s cat, Elvis.

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“I don’t have a boat or a ton of cash, but I have a heart, a soul and talent that I can offer. So I’m hoping that this piece will raise some money that can, at least in some small way, help someone rebuild their life.

“I hope it speaks to the heart of Texas and our ability to love our neighbors.”

— Chris Foreman

Chris is a comic sketch artist who created and donated this cover piece to the Hurricane Harvey Charity Art Challenge being organized by Comic Collateral. The auction is scheduled to start on Sept. 29.

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The past few weeks, so many stories have been shared of people helping people during and after Hurricane Harvey. No doubt, there are countless more that most of us will never hear about. But in each case, someone was positively impacted because someone else took the time to extend a hand.

Kaye and Richard Sneed in Mont Belvieu hosted two couples that hopped in their cars and drove from Fort Worth to do their part in Baytown.

Former Baytown resident Britt Elliott and his wife, Sahar, joined friends Tiffany and Derek Burke on the recent trip. They brought with them baby strollers, baby and toddler car seats, diapers and other baby items that were donated by friends in Fort Worth.

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When Kyle Cervenka left work that Friday, he picked up his airboat and hauled it to his home in El Lago. Hurricane Harvey was coming, so he wanted to be prepared.

“I’ve owned airboats for years. I do a lot of flounder gigging, bow fishing and duck hunting out of the custom built boat I have now,” said Kyle, 47, who grew up in Baytown. “I knew if the rain was bad and the water was high, I’d get calls to help rescue.”

The first call came about 1:30 Sunday morning.

Kyle loaded up and headed out with a friend to the I-45 feeder road not far from his home, where they made 17 rescues.

That was just the tip of the iceberg.

“We ran hard for seven straight days before my airboat just couldn’t take it anymore. I’d say that my buddies and I picked up between 600 and 700 people total,” said Kyle, who worked alongside friends Jimmy Keyes, Jason Koehn and Josh Tauber.

Their areas of focus shifted as the calls came in.

They made lots of rescues in Dickinson, where the water quickly rose to dangerous levels.

“When we got there, it was probably chest deep in places. Before we left, it was on rooftops. We were picking up kids out of second story windows and off rooftops,” Kyle said.

They headed over to Highway 90 at Tidwell, in the C.E. King area, to help move a lot more people to safe locations.

As the week progressed, they found themselves farther from home in Port Arthur. Their main mission was to help evacuate nursing homes.

“Lake Arthur Place is where we worked the most. Most of the people we picked up there were 100 percent bedridden. We were able to load their whole beds on the front of my boat,” Kyle said.

“We actually transported one lady who needed care all the way to a hospital. I drove my airboat right up to the hospital entrance on concrete. It was pretty crazy.”

Helping those elderly patients really touched Kyle’s heart.

“Because my parents are older, all I could think about was what if my mother was in a situation like that,” he said.

Another rescue that stays with Kyle was when they assisted a Marine veteran who recently had open-heart surgery.

“He still had the staples in him. To get him to higher ground was pretty moving. It kind of makes me tear up even now thinking about it,” he said.

When fuel was an issue to keep the airboat running, Kyle posted calls for help on Facebook. It wasn’t long before people stepped up to the challenge.

“They would meet us with 5- or 6-gallon cans full of gas. Those donations kept us going when we couldn’t find fuel at service stations,” he said.

Kyle credits his close friends for working together as a team to save so many people during the week. They were all tired, but they kept on going.

In addition to rescuing people, they helped one of Kyle’s hunting buddies by delivering hay and range cubes to some hungry stranded cattle.

Because of all the devastation and the emotions stirred up by Hurricane Harvey, Kyle admits to having a few bad dreams in the days following their work. While returning to his regular job as a sales manager for a construction company was challenging at first, he’s “getting back in the groove” now.

“I’m back up and going strong this week,” he said. “I’m glad to be back at work, back to a more normal routine.”

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Starting with a simple social media connection, two communities in pain joined forces to help hundreds of families impacted by Hurricane Harvey.

“About seven years ago, I became Facebook friends with a lady named Angie in Indiana through one of the FarmVille games, believe it or not. We kept in touch and always joked around about politics and different things,” Jerry Cates said.

“She’s very much involved with the Southport, Indiana, Police Department, and does a lot of volunteer work. That’s how I learned that they were looking to help out somewhere down here after the hurricane.”

As Baytown and surrounding communities were dealing with the aftermath of Harvey, Southport — a town of about 2,500 just outside Indianapolis — was still coming to grips with a recent tragedy.

Lt. Aaron Allan of the city’s police department was killed on July 27 while trying to help at the scene of a car accident.

“He went to a car that was inverted in a crash. After he climbed in to help, the guy pulled a gun and shot him 12 times. It took Aaron’s life,” said Tom Vaughn, Southport police chief.

“Our community came out and overwhelmed us with food, gifts and memorials. Anything we needed, the people from our town were there. So when the hurricane happened down here, we were trying to find some way to give back to a community that was devastated like we were. We reached out to the same people who were really good to us, and they said, ‘Oh, we’d love to do that.’ They filled our whole garage with stuff.”

Cates, who works at Bay Area Rehabilitation Center in Baytown, got the OK to make BARC the distribution point for a truckload of supplies that arrived on Sept. 8.

“We didn’t really think about it. We worked all day, and then we just jumped in our vehicles and drove straight through,” said Vaughn, who was joined by his wife, Jane, and several officers in making the 1,046-mile trip that took more than 15 hours.

Opportunity Center clients, BARC staff and volunteers were busy throughout the day. First, they handed out cleaning supplies donated by ExxonMobil. Then, after the Southport team arrived early afternoon and they helped unload the truck, they distributed water and a range of household items to more than 200 carloads of families.

All of the supplies were stacked in a building that is normally used for job training for adults with disabilities in the Opportunity Center program. Among other things, they construct industrial-strength pallets that are sold to ExxonMobil.

While Cates made the initial connection that got the ball rolling, “this was really a collaborative effort between Southport Police Department and Baytown PD for our community. They communicated a lot in the background. We were just glad to assist in making it possible,” he said.

Special items that made the long trip were three big bags of stuffed bears that were donated in Allan’s memory. He had earned the nickname Teddy Bear for going out of his way to help local families.

Vaughn recalled how Allan, 38, had met a family whose car wouldn’t start. The husband had been diagnosed with a brain tumor, the wife wasn’t working while she cared for him, and they had a 3-year-old daughter.

Allan went to an auto parts store and bought them a new car battery using his own money. Then he asked the chief whether the department could further help the family.

The police department threw the little girl a party at Chuck E. Cheese’s, with pizza and tokens, and police cruisers filled with toys.

“You’re just a big teddy bear,” Vaughn’s wife said to Allan. And the nickname stuck.

Allan’s wife asked that the teddy bears be handed out to children in need. “So we thought, there’s no better opportunity to give away a bunch of them than right here,” Vaughn said.

After grabbing something to eat and resting for a couple hours, the Southport crew jumped back in their vehicles to make the return trip home.

“We need to get back for a fundraiser,” Vaughn said. “It’s for Aaron’s wife and kids.”

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“I woke up my wife and began ‘water watch.’ In case we needed to evacuate with our son, my wife’s mother and two beagles. It wasn’t long after that I saw my cousin post on Facebook that their house had just flooded. The water came about 3 feet from my front door before the rain slacked enough for it to recede.

“In the days following Harvey, I complained once that my cell service was not working. (In fairness, I do have two medical devices linked to my phone that are a necessity and not a convenience.) I got a huge wake-up call about my selfish attitude.

“The same day I was feeling frustrated about my phone, I encountered a woman in Jack in the Box ranting and screaming at the manager about the amount of cheese (or lack thereof) on her potato wedges. I was grateful that JITB was open, even with a limited menu. The lady throwing a fit put it quickly into perspective. Cheese wasn’t important and neither were cell phones amidst the destruction in Baytown. I asked God to forgive me for my selfish attitude.

“Seeing my hometown ravaged became heartbreaking. I decided to volunteer my time at our church (Rollingbrook Fellowship, First Baptist) in the relief effort. I found it at least a small way I could help.

“I reflect on that Sunday morning as the water was encroaching on my front door and now know that ‘too close for comfort’ is certainly ‘far enough away.’ At church on Sunday, I thanked God for the fact the water stopped short of my front door and prayed (and continue to do so) for those who lost their homes.” 

— James Kingsmill 

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It’s been a busy week for Angela Franco and her husband, John Gomez. Like countless others around our community, they have rolled up their sleeves — and their pant legs when needed — to help make sure that those in need are safe and well fed.

“I’m a nurse, and a CPR and first aid instructor. I also own a child-care facility in Highlands. So when this all started, I had a natural instinct to help others. It did not feel right to sit at home. Saturday morning my husband and I went out with a friend on his boat. We made it to Meadowlake Village, and we started rescuing people. At one point a lady was showing signs of a heart attack. I went into her home, got her meds and kept her stable. We loaded her into a side-by-side to move her to drier ground, and I stayed with her until first responders got there.

“On Sunday we began cooking for first responders and volunteers. We delivered food to three different fire stations using our cousin’s lifted Jeep to make it through the high water. When we got to the fire station on Garth Road, they were filled with so much joy. I felt blessed to be able to help them.”

After a few more rescues and a close call of their own, they decided that they were better suited to cook than rescue. Their pit has been fired up and going non-stop ever since. They cooked for residents in Pinehurst on Thursday, and they were at The Chute today cooking for those who needed a hot meal.

“On Thursday we were serving a family with small children. I smiled and said, ‘Hi, sweetie,’ to this little girl. She jumped out of her car seat, wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me so hard. She didn’t want to let go. Her mom said she was so upset because her baby dolls were wet and ruined, and she had nothing to play with. She was too young to understand why.

“Since I run a childcare, I just so happened to have a bag of stuffed animals and puppets, and a baby doll. When I gave the doll to her, the light in her eyes was amazing. It turned out that the doll was exactly like the one she had lost in the flooding. At that point, it all made sense why we were doing what we were doing. My home was not affected by flooding at all, but my heart sure was. Cooking was the best way we knew how to help. We know these families lost everything and were not able to cook, so we stepped in.

“I grew up in this town. This is our home. We’re Baytown strong. And I wanted to teach my kids that this is what we do as Texans.

— Angela Franco

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Hurricane Harvey wasn’t picky when he came charging through Texas this past week. Many homes across the area were impacted, including those belonging to foster families caring for cats and dogs saved by A Life to Live.

Early Tuesday morning, Deanna Domingue discovered a mess in the bathroom of her Pasadena home. Roof leaks led to a ceiling cave-in.

“I was feeling devastated, overwhelmed and a bit broken-spirited. But I knew that I still had it better than a lot of others. My house did not flood. I still had food and a roof over my head,” she said.

She also had the companionship of her five pets, including foster dogs, Sasha and Ceres. “The girls were champs throughout the whole thing,” Deanna said.

Along with her personal pets — dog Prim and cats Callie and Isis — they handled the storm quite well and are doing fine.

After co-workers helped to cover the affected portions of her roof, Deanna found time to buy diapers for a local people shelter, and she gathered blankets to donate to Baytown Animal Shelter and other area shelters.

With the storm behind us and recovery underway, A Life to Live continues working to save the lives of local animals. Check out available adoptable pets.

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“We have a 1-month-old son, and we were scared of losing power. So we left last Thursday before Hurricane Harvey made landfall. We loaded up with my mother and sister-in-law, and we came to Tyler since my wife has family up here about 30 minutes away.

“When we left, we thought we’d only be gone until Tuesday. We are still in Tyler, but we don’t know what we will be returning to. From what we understand, our apartments were flooded pretty badly. But we will make it through whatever we have to with our son. We are just taking it day by day.

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Baytown, Texas has made national news this week. It’s the town I lived in from my birth at San Jacinto Hospital until I graduated from Sterling High School. My family lived in Chapparal Village on Tumbleweed Lane until I was 5. Then we built our home in the Timber Ridge subdivision just a few houses away from the Cedar Bayou that runs north to south along the east side of town.

I spent my childhood roaming the streets of our neighborhood, down Bayou Boulevard that leads to the many houses of friends who lived in Whispering Pines. Back then we were free to roam on bicycles back and forth until dusk when Mom would step out on the front porch and call out, “dinner!” We’d go racing back with beads of sweat ringed around our necks.

The tight-knit community that has painted so many memories for me has been sucker punched by Hurricane Harvey. Even as I write this, I haven’t fully accepted it like so many others directly impacted by the devastating flooding waters. It’s nothing short of gut-wrenching to see Facebook posts of homes with water over vehicles sitting in driveways. I’ve read the pleas for rescue from people I grew up with. I listened to concerns of friends who are worried about their parents sitting too close to harm’s way. I’ve felt my own personal fear (the tears are flowing now) as I questioned where my own parents were at every single minute of each day Harvey continued his wrath.

Being a bystander 800 miles away watching the disaster unfold via social media, texts and news coverage has been the single most stressful event of my life. I have refreshed my weather radar app hundreds of times hoping for a break in the rain. My heart aches for far too many people I’ve known for years. I cannot fathom the fear of desperately waiting in your house for help to arrive, relying on a stranger to pull your family out of your flooding home where you should be safe and sound. The stories just keep coming. There seems to be no end to the list of names that show up in my Facebook feed.

I know so many have walked away with nothing but a trash bag filled with whatever they could grab. I know folks who took on multiple displaced families and then experienced flooding themselves. I know families are separated and struggling to find each other. I know some have lost their lives. And so many have lost their homes.

But Baytown, I have news for you. Because I witnessed the devastating Nashville flood of 2010, I can tell you exactly what will happen in the days to come. What seems like endless rain will finally come to a stop. The water will recede. And just like the countless people who drove from other states and communities and showed up in a boat at your front door just in the nick of time, scores of friends and perfect strangers will show up to help you recover.

They’ll knock on your front door and pack every single item out of your house. They’ll remove the flooring and damaged sheetrock in the blink of an eye and set up fans to dry out your home. You’ll step outside in the flurry of activity to get some air and realize how difficult it is to navigate down your street due to the numerous volunteers. It’s quite a sight to see so many people who have never met self-organize to achieve a common goal. Leaders will emerge. Kindness will know no end. No one will give up, and no one will leave until the job is done.

People all over the country will open their homes to you. You will not go hungry. You will not be forgotten. And as this will be perhaps the most difficult event to get through, you will. You will recover from this, you will go on, and you will thrive.

It just happens. It’s a process. It takes time. It’s full of emotion. But it will happen.

Baytonians, have faith. Have faith in each other to lean on. Have faith that your friends will bend over backward for you. Have faith that those of us outside of the Houston area will do anything we can to take care of you. I’ve had numerous friends in Nashville ask me how they can help you already – even as the rain still falls. They are ready.

We are already making lists, gathering supplies, collecting donations, pulling clothes and blankets from our shelves. We are ready for you and will be there as soon as the roads clear. You will be sick of us in no time.

But we also need something from you.

And this is important.

We need you to ask for help when you need something we are not providing. We need your honesty, no matter how hard it may be. We all have plenty to share, and we are more than willing, but with so many to help, we may overlook a detail that you can provide.

As you sit reading this, many of you are at a loss for what to do next.

Help is coming. Take a breath. Hug your family. And brace yourselves for the love that is headed to Baytown.

My heart is with you all.

— LeeJayne Stone

Read her blog

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