Neighbors pay it forward
Kingwood Kindness group is providing supplies and donations to coastal communities devastated by Hurricane Laura
Richard and Dawn Abram are proud members of the Kingwood community, where they have raised a daughter and lived for the past 20 years.
As residents of the Elm Grove subdivision, which flooded twice last year, they also know firsthand what it’s like to suffer loss from a flood and to be on the receiving end when others offer help.
Now the Abrams are among those offering a helping hand in the wake of Hurricane Laura’s recent destruction near the Louisiana-Texas border.
Richard Abram, who recently formed a group called Kingwood Kindness, turned to social media to collect items and donations for those who were affected by the Category 4 hurricane after it made landfall on Aug. 27. Although it was heading toward the Texas Gulf Coast at one point, leading to evacuations in Galveston, its path ultimately shifted.
Local residents and businesses responded by providing truckloads of food and supplies to residents in East Texas and Louisiana. Soon enough, the Abrams’ house looked like a donation center.
Dawn Abram, 53, said they are happy to help people affected by a destructive hurricane.
“We have experienced going through the process from being flooded previously — twice, backto-back — so we know how that can feel,” she said. “And you do need a sense of normalcy so you can progress and just not stay in a state of devastation — and also it gives you hope that progress is coming.”
After the family began taking donations, they arranged for supplies to go to Destiny Church in Orange, which now has electricity over a week after the storm. They were shifting their focus to New Life Church in Vinton, La., taking any donated supplies that they could. They were also sending donations to residents of Beaumont, Port Arthur and Lake Charles, La.
Amber Murray, a store attendant at Pet Ranch in Kingwood, dropped off a truckload of cat and dog food, as well as some dog treats, to be sent out last Friday. The donations were supported mostly by their customers, but there have been people from outside of the Kingwood area, even out of state, calling with offers to help. The Abrams were also expecting to send a flatbed of food when it arrives sometime this week..
“Well, obviously they lost everything,” Murray said. “So I mean not only do the humans need stuff, but dogs and cats and small animals need it too.”
The Abrams were also organizing a team that was headed to Hackberry, La. — a small town of about 1,300 people — for a “boots on the ground” mission at the community center, which Abram jokingly referred to as the “Hackberry Hilton.”
They had 23 loads of donated items that arrived on Friday alone, and a nearby Kohl’s department store dedicated four associates to help out all day with pay.
They expected to have about 20 people and five trucks on this visit.
Despite a recent visit to the hospital, Abram, a 64-year-old retiree, still planned to go and help on this trip. He expected to be tarping roofs, cleaning debris and insulation, helping pack items into totes and feeding people.
“It’s the right thing to do,” Abram said “I’m a very faithful man. I believe in God and the talents that he has given me. And he has truly blessed me in my life with my wife, my family, and we feel as though as if we have the opportunity to make a difference, to make a change, to help bring back some type of (normalcy) to someone’s life, then that is what we’re supposed to do. So just like in (tropical storms) Imelda, Harvey, now we do Laura. We wake up, and we’re OK. We are still in place, we have not lost anything. So that is the time to start working.”
After Hurricane Harvey caused massive flooding in 2017, the volunteers of the Cajun Navy came to Kingwood and helped rescue people trapped in the second story of their homes. They stayed around to help clean out houses and support the community where they could, Abram recalled.
“They helped us so tremendously and they asked for nothing, nothing in return,” Abram said. “And it is up to us to show them that same kindness from Texas.”