A welcome relief from devastation
HOUSTON — The man, who identified himself only as “Bob,” sat on line waiting to make a FEMA claim at the downtown George R. Brown Convention Center, which has served as a shelter for so many devastated by Hurricane Harvey’s malevolent punch. He looked worn, weary, like a man who had just endured a hurricane. The last thing on Bob’s mind Friday was baseball. But after an initial look of disgust, he saw the value of the Mets and Astros playing a threegame series this weekend. “There’s too many things, bad things going on to care about baseball,” he said. “But at the same time, people need these things to keep their minds off the real world.” And that second part was the overriding sentiment of some of the victims, volunteers and first-responders at the shelter, a short walk from Minute Maid Park. “We absolutely need it,” said Sgt. Shannon Farquhar of the Houston Police Department. “We’ve been through hurricanes and flooding before, but never anything like this. This is unprecedented. This hurricane has affected the entire Houston region. We’re talking 40 miles to the north, 20-30 miles to the west. It was insane. Everybody was just wiped out. “So absolutely, people want to feel normal. They want their lives back,” Farquhar said. “It’s,‘Hey there’s a ball game. The power’s back on. Let’s get out of here and take our mind off stressful things.’ ” And as Wilson Parkes, who was left with four feet of water in his Houston home said: “It’s gonna be fun. What else we got to do?” The Mets and Astros will play a day-night doubleheader Saturday because Friday’s game was moved back. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 1. A moment of silence honoring Harvey’s victims will be observed before each of the three games.
About 15 Astros players and their families visited the Brown Center on Friday and pitched in, sorting and stacking clothes, greeting and meeting victims, posing for pictures and trying to bring a glimmer of joy to the sorrow and agony of the past week.
But as with baseball, normalcy was returning as law enforcement officers stressed there was “a lot of traffic leaving” the downtown facility. On Tuesday, the shelter was crammed with 10,400 victims, a high in the aftermath of Harvey. But by Thursday night, the number thankfully had fallen to 1,780.
The Astros, who just completed a home series against the Rangers that was moved to St. Petersburg, Fla., donated 5,000 tickets for each of the three games this weekend to the Mayor’s office. Many will be distributed at the Brown Center.
“It’s a distraction from everything that’s going on. It gives everybody something they can focus on, if even for a few hours,” said Chris Adcock, a Houston attorney who has been volunteering at the shelter. “This season with the Astros, the city was really behind them. That could be something to lift people’s spirits for a little while.”