By: Jennifer Felty
The Coker Early Response Team served in Woodsboro, Texas April 27-29 on their 3rd Hurricane Harvey clean-up trip. The six members from Coker UMC were Keller Drozdick, Scott and Jennifer Felty, Richard Garrett, John Roy, and Jack Troutwine. Larry Etter, Los Missione District Disaster Response Coordinator joined the crew to coordinate the projects that included cutting down trees and bushes, pulling up fence posts, raking and bagging debris, moving huge piles of debris to an on-site dumpster using a Bobcat Skid Steer, leveling the ground with the skid steer, and transporting truckloads of trash to the local dump.
During evening debriefing, the team discussed highs and lows for the mission. The lows this time were having only one dumpster to fill since the 2nd one was not delivered, the flying dust from the skid steer, and not getting to meet the homeowner and hear his survivor story.
The highs included watching Jack expertly operate the skid steer all day, not seeing any rattlesnakes, finding a slab of concrete that had “Roberto 2016” written on it, and discovering rescued pictures and important papers placed in the owner’s mailbox. This helped personalize the mission for us since we did not get to meet the homeowner. We hope when he drives by for the first time, a smile will cross his face, because he will be one step closer to getting a new house and a new beginning.
If you would like to join an ERT, please visit the links below to first complete the background check, sign up for an ERT training session, then complete Safe Gatherings.
Sign up on-line for the 8-hour training at https://riotexasresponse.org/ and remember to complete the background check PRIOR to training. Go to https://safegatherings.com/ to begin the application process.
