Devastated by Hurricane Harvey

I had no frame of reference for what I saw when I opened the front door of our home in the west Houston neighborhood of Bear Creek. This was the home my mom and I had shared for the past 4 years. She has been a widow since 2010 when my father passed away from stage 4 gallbladder cancer in July of that year. They had been married 26 years and modeled a love that is rarely seen especially in this day and age. Since my dad's passing, my mom and I have spent these last few years supporting each other not only emotionally but financially as well, splitting all the bills. When I walked into our home, I knew we had flooded - we had seen the surreal footage taken from a helicopter of our neighborhood which was broadcast on our local news stations. But nothing could prepare me for what I saw in our home which was now unrecognizable. My Aunt Mary and Uncle Brent had gotten there first to give me a hand to try to salvage the little bit we could get out of the home. They were almost in tears by what they saw and I was just simply stunned as I entered our home and wittnesed the absolute loss of almost everything we held dear. It was like someone had set off a giant blender in our home - things that we're in the kitchen we're now in the bathroom. Items in the kitchen floated off to the hall. At it's highest, we had over 5 feet of water in our home. Our refrigerator which we had just purchased last year was on its back, my mom's car - the one she had taken such good care of -sadly sat in the garage never to run again. All of our furniture and belongings and much of our clothes were totally ruined. Things that my mom had cherished were gone forever. Like pictures of her mom, my grandmother, when she was 20 years old - placed high inside a drawer, but not high enough to escape the devastation of the flood water. My moms piano, a 1960's era upright which had been lovingly passed down from her mom when she passed away in 2009 now laid on its back in pieces. Never to make music again. My dad had fashioned a 9 foot long wooden model of the USS Missouri - the famous battleship where the signing of the Japanese surrender took place, marking the end of World War II. My dad had lovingly shaped every piece by hand from scratch out of balsa wood from blueprints, it was 100% original. It was a cherished part of our family for over 30 years, and now lay in pieces with mold growing on it. One of the saddest things I realized as I have tried to make sense of what has happened is the realization that my mom, now entering retirement age, finds herself in the unfortunate position of having to start over at a time when everything seemed so settled. She told me that with the exception of losing my dad in 2010, that this has been the toughest year of her life. And proving the old saying true that says, 'when it rains, it pours', she suffered a fall in the lobby of the hotel we stayed in the first few days following the storm. She ended up fracturing her nose and severely bruising her knees and chest. She is recovering now and thanks to the grace of God is almost fully recovered. We know that God's grace will bring us through this season in both of our lives. Our family friends, Beverly and Bill, have been wonderful - inviting us to stay in their home until we find another place to live. Like so many effected by Hurricane Harvey, we were not set up financially to deal with this type of total loss. We humbly ask for your financial help so we can move forward and go on with our lives. We will use any funds given to help us locate a new place to live, replace my mom's car, and to begin to put our lives back together. God bless you and we thank you in advance for any help you can provide!

Robert Bird
Linda Bird