Hesed House of Wharton

Today we said goodbye to Belinda Alvarez on loan to us from Hidalgo County through the TX Incident Support Task Force. She has been a true godsend. We also welcomed DiAngela and Kayla to the volunteer team. We sell our communities so short when we underestimate our teenagers. They are capable and able to engage tasks many adults are afraid to do such as cold calling community members to check on them and make sure they are okay. We had volunteers over the weekend who are making the world a better place as adults, and whom got their start in community engagement through summer service projects and local disaster response. We are never too young to engage deeply and meaningfully in our communities and it can unlock a passion for public service and helping that only gets stronger with age and maturity. Our community will always be our “why” but they are also our “how.” #hurricaneberyl #wharton county

Just a reminder that in disasters, not all heroes wear capes. Some of them come carrying cables and make connecting to resources easier through strengthened communication channels. Thank you, ITDRC, for helping us set up a dedicated line and phone bank for survivors who need help walking through the stressful disaster process and providing cell phones for Hesed House staff and volunteers to use out in the field. Connected community members are more resilient community members. #itdrc #tdem #ruraldisasterrecovery #whartontexas #ruralcommunityreslience #hurricaneberyl

IMPORTANT REMINDERS We are five days out from a major disaster across the Texas Gulf Coast. As power begins to come back on, please know the following: * Wharton County still has over 4,000 power outages. *Power being restored doesn't mean it is connected to houses. Those lines might be down. *On a 1.0 scale, Wharton County's SOCIAL VULNERABILITY INDEX is high, with even higher numbers for Cities of Wharton and El Campo (See the image). Our highest demographics are senior adults and children. That means we are more highly impacted during a disaster. *THIS IS A DISASTER. The damage is not "just vegetative" and we have humanitarian needs. It is also not "just" in areas previously affected by flooding disasters. We have small isolated communities and residences in the county and need to get eyes on them and resources to them. People have damaged cars, inability to get gas and inability to get to cooling centers and mass feeding locations. *It is possible to still have disaster fatalities this far out. A heat wave is the greatest contributing factor to fatalities after a disaster. *If your agency serves home health patients or families with children, please contact us to document unmet needs. *We need help getting damage documented in iSTAT for survivors who can't do it themselves. Please help someone if you are able and support the local non-profits responding to this disaster. Visit our HURRICANE RESPONSE page for links and info Hesed House staff hablamos espanol https://lnkd.in/erZSpD8n

Failing less and failing better in disaster response

As we move into volunteer disaster recovery operations, we do so with deep gratitude for all the responders who have worked to keep us safe. A coordinated, collaborative effort is an effective effort when it comes to disaster recovery. Want to partner? We’d love to talk to you.

With hurricane preparations in place, Hesed House staff are prepared to open up for volunteer disaster response operations as soon as we can safely do so and as needed after Beryl passes. As a member of the Texas Gulf Coast Regional Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, we are prepared to work with local emergency management, the Texas Division of Emergency Management, and mutual aid organizations with the goals of cooperation, communication, coordination, and collaboration to respond to the needs of Wharton County residents. Our Hurricane Response page is now active on our website: https://lnkd.in/g2b_dfzM Feel free to share the link with friends and neighbors who may need assistance when the storm passes. You can also use the link to make a tax-deductible donation to support disaster response/recovery in Wharton County if you feel led to do so. We will update the page as resources are made available. Of course, in the event of an emergency, please call 911. Do what you can to stay safe. We’ll be here when the storm passes. #hesedhouseofwharton #TXGCRVOAD #TDEM #Whartoncounty #FEMA #Disasterresponse

This week Amelia and Stephanie spent time in Fort Worth at the TDEM Conference. As a member of the Texas Gulf Coast VOAD (voluntary organizations active in disaster), Hesed House knows the importance of being able to respond well to a disaster, but we also know preparation is the most important first step for every community member. Today marks the first day of hurricane season, a season of increased anxiety for Texas Gulf Coast communities. In the next few weeks, we will be making resources available for community members to be better prepared. We will have dry bags like those pictured and opportunities for parents and caregivers to learn how we can talk about disasters with children. Wharton County knows well that we can’t prevent natural disasters, but we can prepare and mitigate the impact of them. It takes all of us to build a more resilient community. Let’s all start at home by making sure we are prepared in whatever way we can. #TDEM #TXGCVOAD #ruralcommunityresilience #hurricanepreparedness #disasterresponse #whartoncounty

We have had 48 community members contribute to our first large scale mural on campus under the direction of a local artist and United Methodist pastor, Melissa Garza. We believe public art has the ability to unite community members around a common experience and transform community spaces, and this mural is proving that true! Public art increases the quality of life for communities and when community members are able to contribute to the project, transformative relationships can develop. Connected communities are more resilient communities. The almost completed wildflower mural will be dedicated on June 7th, followed by an artist talk with Melissa and her first art show. We look forward to cultivating curiosity, creativity, and connection through more community art projects in the years to come. Want to help us keep growing a vibrant space for all community members? We welcome community partners. Send us a message or give us a call to learn more about The Park Project and Hesed House programming. #whARTonMatters #whartontexas #ruraltexas #hesedhouseofwharton #publicart #communityresilience

Hesed House Increases Facility Connectivity May 5, 2024: Thanks to generous funding from Bay Area Council on Drugs and Alcohol (BACODA), CenterPoint Energy Foundation, and multiple individual donors, Hesed House is completing 2,882 square feet of permeable sidewalks to connect facilities. This project, originally planned for completion in early Fall of 2023, was met with significant challenges and delays, but is now being completed thanks to Sharon and Jelsea Brank, the new owners of Piper Whitney Construction. The mother and daughter team have gone above and beyond to see this project through, understanding the importance of accessibility for Hesed House patrons, and the community at large. Accessibility, coupled with the need for responsible infrastructure that doesn’t contribute to storm water runoff in a neighborhood impacted by river flooding, means using materials and practices that cost more than traditional ones, but will help increase ecological resilience in a community that has continued to become more vulnerable with every flood event. Hesed House believes responsibly built, inclusive community spaces can help increase social and ecological resilience, resulting in increased community resilience and a higher quality of life for Wharton area residents. This phase of construction is just the beginning of what Hesed House hopes will become a vibrant outdoor gathering space for families visiting Dinosaur Park with a lighted and shaded plaza area, synthetic turf, and amenities such as picnic tables, benches, trash receptacles, bike racks, and of course, more parking space. Hesed House of Wharton is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization (EIN: 84-2536207) located on City of Wharton property at 421 W. Colorado St., Wharton, TX 77488. Donations to The Park Project in any amount are welcomed. To partner, or for more information on Hesed House, contact Executive Director, Stephanie Konvicka at skonvicka@hesedhousewtx.org

We are excited to share some amazing news on this beautiful Monday! As we prepare to launch Latinas in STEAM this summer, we are welcoming The CenterPoint Energy Foundation as a program partner. This $25,000 grant will enable Hesed House of Wharton to launch community-based educational programming to give Latinas a leg up in STEAM related fields. The CenterPoint Energy Foundation strives to become a community catalyst in the communities where we live and work, leveraging everyday opportunities to achieve extraordinary outcomes. The CenterPoint Energy Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization funded by non-utility related transactions and is not an element of customers’ energy bills. We are grateful for community partners like the CenterPoint Energy Foundation who believe innovation is possible and can be community led. We welcome individual, as well as corporate and private philanthropy partners. Interested in being part of innovative, community resilience building? We’d love to match your interest to a program or project. Send us a message or give us a call to schedule some time to talk. Let’s keep growing, Wharton #elfuturoesmujer #latinasunidos #ruraltech #digitalliteracy #womeninsteam