Flood Recovery for Grant Griffin, Humble Hero

A message from Lathram Pou:

I have been asked to share my experience, and I am also asking for assistance.

Last Saturday, after the 4th of July flooding in Texas Hill Country, I texted my buddy Stuart Greenfield and we discussed making a plan to get to Hunt, TX to start helping with the rescue and recovery. The Greenfield's own the ranch, Campo Verde, just below Camp Mystic, so you can imagine the devastation. Their house is built way up on the hill, so it was not damaged, but everything else was.

Saturday, my family came home early from the lake for the prayer vigil at University Park Elementary across the street from our house. The next day, we went to church at HPPC and saw the Hunt family there in full force after just losing their precious daughter. Their presence alone was such a strong sign of faith.

Monday, I worked all day lining up everything so we could head down. Mark Graybill let me borrow his well-equipped F350, and I was able to procure a trailer from Sunbelt in Waco and skid steer in Fredericksburg. It was the exact model I have at my ranch so I knew I would be comfortable operating it. Thank God!

Tuesday, I headed out in the morning and called Nitrous Outlet in Waco on the way down looking for specific VP RACING gas cans since I had none in Dallas. Once I got there, they said they spoke with VP RACING company and they told me to take whatever I needed at no charge, thanks a ton to them!

I showed up at Stuart’s ranch at 4:30 pm after getting through CR 39 which was shut down to anyone but first responders and property owners. His field was being used as a base camp for a lot of groups from fire stations around the state, search and rescue groups, and Samaritans Purse later in the week, etc.

I was able to get five good hours of work in. The electricity had just been restored, so luckily Stuart, and I had air conditioning and warm showers. This was not expected but once again….Thank God! The next day, we got up early and I worked in the skid steer for 13 hours, almost straight. Our mentality was the harder we work, the more we honor those that had passed or were missing. It felt as if we were doing this for all the people back home who wanted to be helping, as well. Campo Verde’s front field is directly next to the field Camp Mystic across the river from the main camp. This allowed me to not only clean Stuart’s field but also take care of all the debris and trees on Camp Mystic’s property. I felt very honored to be able to do that!

Thursday, we put in twelve straight hours and Will Schramme and Stuart’s older brother, Booth, arrived. Will, Stuart, and Booth all worked in the kitchen at Camp Mystic, and it just made it that much more personal. We worked 10-12 hour days for the next two days. We were clearing 2-4 story debris piles and assisting search and rescue teams that had canine marks for recoveries. One evening, we assisted the Navy Seals and Navy Divers on a recovery mission. Those guys were amazing, including Marcus Luttrell (Lone Survivor).

The recovery was 100 yards down from the Mystic dam. The amount of rock and gravel that was displaced was incredible and made some of these tasks nearly impossible. We worked alongside the Austin dive team on another recovery attempt right in front of Camp Mystic. We worked with US Border Patrol and Mexico Border Patrol. The Mexican search and rescue teams were also there in full force (picture attached).

The Greenfield’s neighbor across the river, Grant Griffin and his family were severely affected. Their home and most of their belongings were destroyed in the flood.

HERE COMES THE ASK….

Grant is a builder/contractor in the area and has done work at Camp Mystic. He was also leading the charge in our specific area, from the Mystic dam down the river for about a mile. He was always taking care of the neighbors before taking care of his own. You could tell he is well respected, and I was ecstatic to be taking directions from him.

As mentioned, Grant was heavily impacted, but he and his sons were taking care of all the properties in the area as if they were their own.

The other AMAZING thing about Grant is he pulled two young girls out of the raging river in the middle of the night. He is an ABSOLUTE HERO! I never heard him share that story once with anyone because this man could not be any more humble. Hours later the Coast Guard helicoptered in and picked the girls up from his back field after his family had gotten the girls warm and dressed in dry clothes. Attached is a picture of the two girls in the helicopter that Grant saved.

Grant does not have flood insurance because it was cost prohibitive and not available with most insurance carriers. His house is way up the cliff side, not immediately by the river. Based on what we saw and measured the water got up closer to 50-60 feet in this area, not the thirty-two feet that has been mentioned in other areas. His insurance agent involved FEMA, and they came to assess the damage, I met the ladies who were kind but ultimately only offered the family a small amount. This is not a knock-on FEMA because I know the Griffin’s don’t look to rely on the government to manage their problems.

Amongst the items we found were craft beads in plastic boxes that were washed 200 yards down from the Mystic Dam. We are working with a local lady to design bracelets, and our kids are going to make them to honor everyone affected by the horrific event. We have set up a GoFundMe to directly benefit the Griffin’s. Based on what I have seen they will not only use the money personally, but it will go into the hands of everyone around him in need. PLEASE consider making a donation (Grant Griffin GoFundMe, where Stuart is the Administrator). All donations of $500 or more will be sent a bracelet made from the beads recovered down river. We will also be gifting bracelets to the six mothers who lost their precious angels in our small community.

Please donate whatever you can! One of my main goals on this mission trip was to find someone in need and this family could not be any more deserving! The Griffin’s will literally be helping rebuild this community for the near future….Doing God’s work and looking for God’s children! I hope you will consider making a donation to help Grant Griffin and his family.

I didn’t share all of this for any kind of praise, and it is outside my comfort zone to do so. I feel strongly about supporting this deserving family. Financial donations and more volunteer work in the months to come will be heavily needed. Thank you for your consideration and support just by reading my long-winded post.

Additional stories, if interested…..

There is a man who was carrying a large wooden cross through Hunt while I am waiting in traffic for Governor Abbott to leave the Hunt Store. Fast forward a few days, I was cleaning the Mystic field and saw these three men waving at me from the road in front of Mystic. They had a large stump in the ground they needed removed so they could erect a cross in front of the camp. We were able to get it uprooted and pushed down the hill. I shared with them how our community was putting up green ribbons everywhere to support the families. When I returned at 1:00 pm to help put the cross up, they had also purchased green ribbon and asked me to attach it to the plaque on the cross.

There was one dog handler that I worked with on Saturday, who marked a spot in front of Stuart’s ranch that had already been cleared. This man’s dog could find pets and humans and would alert differently to each. He carried a microchip reader so he could also help people either find or bring closure to their pets. I pointed him to an area that I knew was severely mangled and hard to search. He went straight to that area and sure enough, the dog had a mark that was not an animal. The man marked the pile and called a search and rescue team to investigate while he kept on moving. He later came back and shared that devastating news with me, which obviously brought mixed emotions.

Hug your family, hug your friends, hug your neighbor, and stay faithful!