Harvey Help
On January 24th of this year Andrea Kolar (known as Andy) was given the keys to a brand-new mobile home in Seadrift. Included with the keys were a beautiful Bible and a “Paid in Full” certificate. All of the above was generously provided by Samaritan’s Purse, a nonprofit disaster relief organization headed by Franklin Graham. Andrea response was “It’s exciting to be in a place that doesn’t leak and has central heat and air.” She says this because she had lived in her damaged mobile home for a year after Hurricane Harvey. Andrea, we the community of Seadrift are excited for you! Thank you, Samaritan’s Purse!                -Tanya DeForest

Samaritan’s Purse is still on the ground providing physical and spiritual aid to affected families one year after Hurricane Harvey destroyed more than 12,000 homes in southeast Texas. Today, January 24, 2019, we celebrate Andrea Kolar returning home after Samaritan’s Purse helped her recover.

INITIAL RESPONSE:

Samaritan’s Purse deployed its entire fleet of Disaster Relief Units to Texas in response to Hurricane Harvey’s landfall—five response locations were established to help Texas families recover from the storm.

In the initial response, Samaritan’s Purse mobilized more than 11,000 volunteers from all over the country to help some 3,000 families with emergency repairs, debris removal, and mud-outs of homes with severe flood damage.

SECOND PHASE:

Samaritan’s Purse continues to help Texas families recover from Hurricane Harvey with home rebuild and repair teams based in Rockport and Pearland.

Over the course of 2-3 years, Samaritan’s Purse, working alongside partner organizations, will rebuild or repair more than 450 homes for families who are unable to do the work on their own—widows, elderly, uninsured, and others with special needs.

Our goal is to see up to 1,000 families get back into their homes. This will be accomplished through physical assistance (rebuild and repair), providing building materials and a manufactured home replacement.

Samaritan’s Purse is also working to help more than 150 churches with needed repairs.

THE HOMEOWNER:

Andrea Kolar is a 56-year-old who has been a large part of the Seadrift community for 33 years—serving as a custodian at the local post office. During her time there, she befriended an elderly gentleman and would frequently drive him to appointments and assist him with general tasks. Over the subsequent years, Andrea would become more and more of a caregiver for this man who had been predeceased by his wife and children.
When he passed away, Andrea discovered that he had left his Estate to her—including five lots in town, the manufactured home and a few personal belongings. Andrea has lived in the manufactured home for ten years and for the past four years has also taken in a young single mother and her three children.

Hurricane Harvey’s strong winds  ripped the roof off of Andrea’s home and filled the interior with water. With nowhere else to go, Andrea has still been living in the home despite the presence of mold and several pieces of the roof still missing.

Because of our generous donors, Samaritan’s Purse is able to provide a new replacement mobile home for Andrea, along with an initial furniture package, to assist in her recovery.