To do that, club members got together with a trailer, grills, carts and volunteers to hand out hot meals and bags of ice to anyone in need following the damages caused by Hurricane Beryl.
“I saw people leaving here happier than when they got here,” club President Harold Nicoll said.
The event, in the parking lot of the Brazosport Center for the Arts and Sciences, made sense to event organizers. Club member Wesley Copeland is the center's executive director and Brazosport College President Vincent Solis also is a rotarian, Nicoll said.
Brazosport College campus police helped direct people into two lines: one for food, one for water. Most people, however, ended up getting both, served to them with a smile from volunteers.
“It's a real blessing," Norma of Lake Jackson said. “When people get together to organize things like this, it can make a bad situation easier.”
Norma's daughter saw an advertisement for the event on Facebook, Norma said. In need of essentials, she'd driven over.
“I hope everything gets back in order soon," Norma said. "Because this is a battle. Just to get ice, it's a struggle. And food too. If you buy food, chances are you don't have a fridge to store them in. And if you do have a fridge, you probably don't have power with which to cook.”
Brazosport Rotarian Kenny Vernor, of Vernor Material Supply, heard some sad stories at the event, he said.
“People living in their cars, living without electricity," he said. "One lady, when we gave her water, she couldn't wait to get the cap off, really thirsty. There was a big need that was met today.”
TDECU provided the ice for the Rotary club's drive, Vernor said. For purchasing food, the Rotary's district covered half the cost while members paid for the rest.
“Our district governor is a woman named Nancy Anderson,” Nicoll said. “She reached out and asked me ‘What do y'all need?’ and I said ‘Hot meals and ice.’"
Anderson worked with Vernor to arrange for the food and the cooking while the club provided volunteers to run the event, Nicoll said.
“We were able to prepare 1,500 meals for everybody,” Vernor said.
Nicoll credits Vernor with providing a lot of the equipment, but the real stars of the show were the members who came together regardless of their own situations to help others.
“The Rotary's club's motto is ‘service above self,’” Nicoll said. “And this is the type of work, of providing essentials like food and water, that we ought to be doing.”
As a matter of fact, many of the Rotary clubs volunteers do not even have power back themselves, yet they were present under occasional rain replaced by hot sun, passing out meals and bags of ice.
A common thread with people coming through and volunteers alike was a lack of power.
Such was the case from Abby, who came over from Richwood.
“We still don't have power,” she said.
Between finding supplies and taking care of her elderly parents, also without power, the situation has been stressful. Food and ice drives like the Rotary's help make a difficult situation easier, Abby said.
“It's a struggle, but seeing the community come together has been really wonderful,” she said.
Cynthia Zelaya is a reporter for The Facts. Contact her at 979-237-0151.