On February 12th, 2021, Winter Storm Uri took Texas by surprise. The storm brought some of the coldest temperatures Texas had ever seen. Tens of thousands of homes had burst pipes and no water. A week after the storm, more than 1 million Texans were still without water.
At HCSS, we always try to help in these types of situations. During the storm, we offered our offices as a warming center to employee families and friends. Buesing Corp, a great HCSS customer based in Phoenix, secured pallets of water and plumbing supplies and sent them from Arizona to Texas. Supplies were used by American Professional Services who sent a team of plumbers from West Virginia to provide pro-bono plumbing services to families in need. In total, efforts helped over 200 households.
Still now, months later, need remains. With water resources left over from initial post-storm efforts, HCSS recently organized and hosted a water distribution event at the HCSS campus, primarily to help individuals and families who met one or more of the following criteria:
- Had no water at home due to damage from the freeze
- Financially unable to get water/non-perishables to prepare for hurricane season
- Unemployed due to covid
- Homebound (Due to age or disability)
At our event, we had 51 total volunteers who distributed 718 cases of water to 221 families. Twenty volunteers delivered water to those families without transportation to come to the event. The remainder were on site helping out.
We want to say thank you to everyone who donated their time to help us reach the Sugar Land community. Volunteers came from several different organizations including:
- Fort Bend County Black Nurses' Association
- National Women of Achievement, Houston & Fort Bend Chapters
- National Youth Achievers, Houston & Fort Bend Chapters
- Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc
