HEROES of HARVEY
Retiree resolved that if his house was spared, he would help others. And that’s just what he’s doing. Tommy Overstreet
Tommy Overstreet resolved that if his was spared, he would help others.
By Cary Darling
Tommy Overstreet was so sure his Rosharon home was going to be inundated by Hurricane Harvey that he and his wife packed up and stayed with friends before becoming overwhelmed by rising waters.
As it turned out, he ended up right in the path of Harvey — and a new calling. “Their house flooded, but ours didn’t,” he said recently. “That was the house we started cleaning up after the flood, and I told my wife, ‘If we’re so blessed that we don’t get I’m going to help as many people as I can.’ ”
The water receded — after coming within 300 yards of his home — but the promise remained.
He put out a call for volunteers through Michael Berry’s radio show on 740 AM (KTRH-FM).
“I had 26 volunteers,” he said of that first day. “I had one person who came from Dallas. It was his birthday, and he just wanted to come and help.”
Overstreet, 69, ended up connecting with such humanitarian organizations as Builders Without Bor- ders of Texas, Sewa International, Greater Houston Outdoor Christian Fellowship and Team Effort in finding funds, donors and matching volunteers with residents who need help.
He can’t estimate how many houses he’s helped “muck out,” though the retired Shell Oil electrician and investigator is now involved in building his first home from scratch. The 500-square-foot home is for a woman whose Harvey-damaged residence was irreparable.
This is all new to Overflooded, street, who had never been this deeply involved in philanthropic work prior to Harvey. “I think when I was saying, ‘If I get spared, I’m going to do everything I can,’ I think the Lord laid his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘I’ve got work for you today.’ ”
Kim Reed, president of the nonprofit Builders Without Borders of Texas, says Overstreet’s contributions have been crucial. “It takes a lot of people to make this work,” he said. “It doesn’t just happen.”