By Catherine Frondorf
On May 26, we arrived in San Marcos, Texas, deployed in response to the Memorial Day flood of the Blanco River. The clouds were an ominous gray and it was hot and humid. The low rumble of thunder was off in the distance and shortly thereafter the rain began; perhaps this was a symbol of what lay ahead, as we were to witness both the hardship and beauty that emerges from the heart of a disaster.
Despite taking FEMA classes to prep us in the event of a disaster, nothing in the classroom can quite brace you for the real thing.
In the first few days of our Volunteer Reception Center (VRC) opening, people came in droves, both announced and unannounced. This was both a blessing and a curse as we lacked resources in the midst of developing a system of organization – indeed; it was organized chaos at its finest. But with the help of local volunteers and active community members, we were able to get everything we needed.
The local Home Depot and Walmart delivered a multitude of tools and supplies. Red Cross gave us enough food, water, and energy drinks for a small army; and local restaurants dispatched coffee in the morning (a crucial necessity) as well as breakfast tacos, donuts, sandwiches, cookies and cakes, fruit, all with little advanced notice. Within the VRC, we had some incredible volunteers whose connections to the community were invaluable to our success; they became fast friends who we will never forget.
Above all the things I learned that preparedness was not about taking a class or building a preparedness kit but about building a community that is cooperative and ready to act when it hears the call to duty. San Marcos, Texas, is a community that made hundreds of phone calls to inform neighbors, thousands of photocopies to sign in strangers, and rushed to turn on the lights when we kicked the plug and thought we had lost power. Cooperation and communication are your most valuable tools, to be used wisely and with care, and with those, you can accomplish anything.
The things we have seen have affected each and every one of us and the people we have met, whose lives we have had the opportunity to make better, and perhaps that is the greatest reward of all. The community was prepared to work together to respond, they were prepared to collaborate for a common good. We will undoubtedly carry this experience and the life lessons with us forever.
Catherine Frondorf is a Crew Leader with the Texas Conservation Corps, Emergency Response Team.