{"id":57455,"date":"2025-07-11T17:54:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T17:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/57455\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T17:54:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T17:54:19","slug":"volunteers-nonprofits-join-forces-for-flood-ravaged-hill-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/57455\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteers, nonprofits join forces for flood-ravaged Hill Country"},"content":{"rendered":"

At daybreak on July 4, Tim Boothby drove his black F-250 pickup into a storm. <\/p>\n

As torrential rain fell and the Guadalupe River surged 25 feet over its banks in Kerrville, Boothby pulled up to the Old River Road RV Resort<\/a>, sirens wailing.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvacuate! Evacuate!\u201d he shouted through a bullhorn. \u201cEvacuate! Evacuate!\u201d<\/p>\n

A volunteer first responder in Kerrville, Boothby sounded emergency orders from his own truck.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He had not been dispatched by his chief from the Turtle Creek Volunteer Fire Department. He\u2019d gone out to help his stepson, Travis Cranford, a responder from the Center Point Volunteer Fire Department.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cWe were limited on equipment, so some of us were there in personal vehicles,\u201d Boothby said. \u201cWe went to wake everybody up and get them to higher ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He doesn\u2019t know if everyone at the resort escaped. The following day, though, in another part of flood-ravaged Central Texas, Boothby discovered three bodies, two of them tangled in trees.<\/p>\n

\"\"Center Point Volunteer Fire Fighters Travis Cranford, left, and Mike Gavit prepare to depart from the Center Point ISD donation station back to the volunteer fire department along the Guadalupe River. Credit: Amber Esparza for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

One week after Hill Country flooding claimed at least 120 lives<\/a> and left more than 100 missing,\u00a0Boothby and Cranford slog through mud and debris along the riverbank, looking for victims and personal effects, their mission aided by waves of South Texas volunteers, scrambling to help:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The San Antonio Fire Department <\/a>deployed 22 first responders on July 4, including two teams in boats, for rescue and medical support.<\/p>\n

H-E-B pledged $5 million<\/a> toward relief efforts and provided on-the-ground meals, gift cards and supplies.<\/p>\n

The San Antonio Spurs joined the NBA and the NBA Players Association<\/a> in pledging more than $2 million for disaster relief.<\/p>\n

State Rep. Josey Garcia <\/a>(D-San Antonio), an Air Force veteran, organized volunteers to deliver supplies and partnered with law enforcement officials to form search and rescue teams.<\/p>\n

Archbishop Gustavo Garc\u00eda-Siller<\/a> traveled to Kerrville to offer comfort and spiritual guidance to families, waiting for updates on missing loved ones.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Salvation Army,<\/a> Eagles Flight Advocacy & Outreach<\/a> <\/a>and other local nonprofits joined numerous small businesses and individuals who donated supplies and money.<\/p>\n

Locally, flooding has claimed the lives of two students and a lecturer from UTSA<\/a>. A Cambridge Elementary student<\/a> in the Alamo Heights Independent School District is among the missing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Children\u2019s Bereavement Center of South Texas<\/a> is providing \u201chealing circles\u201d for those impacted by the flood. More than two dozen local families attended healing circles this past Sunday and Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Ingram resident Jenny Etienne picks up donations at the VFW Post 1480 donation station in Kerrville, Texas. Credit: Amber Esparza for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\u201cThe healing circle is facilitated by one of our grief therapists,\u201d said Adriana McKinnon, chief program officer for the Children\u2019s Bereavement Center at 205 W. Olmos Drive. \u201cOur next healing circle will be Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. It\u2019s a safe space for people to share their experience and how they\u2019ve been impacted by the flood.\u201d<\/p>\n

A licensed professional counselor, McKinnon has a deep understanding of the pain the flooding has caused. \u201cI\u2019ve been talking with five different families who have missing children since Friday,\u201d McKinnon said. \u201cIt really is very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

As thousands mobilize to help in any way they can, recovery operations continue, led in part, by numerous volunteer first responders in Hunt, Ingram, Center Point and Kerrville.<\/p>\n

An impossible job<\/p>\n

Cranford got a call at 3:30 a.m. on July 4. A family of five was stranded on the roof of their home as floodwaters rose dangerously high.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried to help but we couldn\u2019t pass over to get there,\u201d Cranford said. \u201cThe water was already above the hood of the trucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Center Point Volunteer Fire Fighter Travis Cranford chats with his wife Britny Cranford during a short return to the volunteer fire department\u2019s donation station at Center Point ISD. Credit: Amber Esparza for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Another call took him to Howdy\u2019s Bar & Grill, a Kerrville restaurant that bills itself as the \u201cBest Hideout on the Guadalupe River.\u201d Pulling up, he saw kids clinging to trees in the floodwaters,\u00a0the currents too strong to cross.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no saving them,\u201d Cranford said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t put boats in the water. The water was too fast. There was too much debris. I pretty much just froze. I stood there and watched. You\u2019ve got all this training under your belt and you think you\u2019re ready. But it\u2019s just nothing compared to what you face. That was hard. Once the water went down, we were able to start searching and recovering.\u201d<\/p>\n

A volunteer first responder for six years, Cranford works for Kerrville Wastewater Collections<\/a>. He hasn\u2019t returned to work since flooding began and doesn\u2019t know when he\u2019ll be back.<\/p>\n

\"\"Cheryl Phillips, right, and Kite, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois from Carolina K-9 Tactical Search and Rescue, get ready to mount the SHERP ATV. Credit: Amber Esparza for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re out here until we find everybody that\u2019s missing,\u201d he said from his truck in Center Point.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That means Cranford will be volunteering sacrificially, living without a paycheck for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not something I think about,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re here for. To help people. To get them back to their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Tim Boothby, a volunteer from the Turtle Creek Volunteer Fire Department in Kerrville, is volunteering to help find missing people. Credit: Amber Esparza for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Boothby, Cranford\u2019s stepfather, drives a UPS truck. He, too, is missing work to perform rescue and recovery operations. It\u2019s a miracle he can volunteer: Two years ago, a San Antonio neurosurgeon removed a tumor the size of a chicken egg from the frontal lobe of his brain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI fought a heck of a fight with cancer,\u201d Boothby said. \u201cI give full glory to God for healing me. I\u2019m grateful to be here doing what I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boothby and Cranford spent Thursday with a small team in a SHERP, an all-terrain, amphibious vehicle, on a grim mission: looking for bodies. The day brightened when they stopped for lunch. An army of volunteers had arrived to serve.<\/p>\n

Supporting the volunteers<\/p>\n

First responders awoke Friday to a threatening forecast: Chances of showers and thunderstorms will increase as they head into the weekend, with a possibility of isolated flooding in Central Texas.<\/p>\n

How much more rain can one region take?<\/p>\n

Mercy Chefs<\/a> and other nonprofits are partnering with the Texas Restaurant Association <\/a>to\u00a0provide meals and water to first responders throughout Central Texas.<\/p>\n

\"\"Center Point Volunteer Fire Department vehicles are stationed outside the department\u2019s temporary donation station. Credit: Amber Esparza for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community coming out and helping us has been positive,\u201d Cranford said. \u201cIt\u2019s good seeing so many people bringing donations, bringing snacks, bringing diapers and clothing. A bunch of people have brought water. Palette loads of water. I think we have 200 or 300 people helping us search right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of the weather, volunteers have assembled and moved into action. Nonprofits are bringing supplies. Small businesses are setting up mobile kitchens.<\/p>\n

The Texas Restaurant Association is partnering with Denny\u2019s Mobile Relief Diner<\/a> to provide free hot meals Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Kerrville\u2019s Lowe\u2019s parking lot from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing what all these people are doing,\u201d Cranford said.<\/p>\n

Friday morning, he climbed back into a SHERP and headed out to begin another day. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still in recovery,\u201d Cranford said, \u201cuntil everyone is accounted for.\u201d <\/p>\n

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