Yumans to deliver supplies to Texas
While many may have Houston in mind during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Yuman Jennifer Jimenez is focusing her energy on a smaller area of Texas and will travel there today to deliver supplies collected by the local community.
Jimenez said that she and her brother Carl will travel to Rockport, Texas, on Friday afternoon to donate the materials to local
charities. She said she realized what the area’s need is when she learned that a friend who lives there with her daughter lost her home due to the storm.
Rockport is a city on the coast of Texas located in Aransas County. The United States Census Bureau shows the population at 8,766 people as of the 2010 census, though the bureau’s population estimates for July 2016 came in at 10,645.
“It’s these small surrounding towns that really truly need our help, and if there was something I could do, I wanted to be able to do it,” Jimenez told the Yuma Sun in a phone interview.
On Thursday Vice President Mike Pence visited the area, which was severely damaged by the storm, the Associated Press reports. According to the AP, residents of Rockport were among the first in the U.S. hit by Harvey.
Coming in at a Category 4 hurricane last Friday, Harvey, which turned into a tropical depression, set a rainfall record totaling close to 52 inches in Cedar Bayou, Texas, the National Weather Service reported.
Jiminez said she is currently collecting shoes, flashlights, bug spray, toilet paper, hygiene products, baby food and baby formula. She added that she has plenty of other clothing items already collected.
Many donations poured in from the community after she posted about her efforts on Facebook following the storm, she said, so much so that she now needs to rent a larger U-Haul trailer than she initially expected.
“Not in my wildest dream I imagined it would get this big,” Jimenez said. “I would like to thank the community of Yuma for getting together. Everybody in this community has stepped up and really wanted to give what they possibly can to the victims over there that have nothing.
Initially, we were going to rent a 6’ by 8’ trailer and now we are having to double the size of the trailer.”
She added that donations came from many areas, including San Luis, Ariz., Somerton, within the city of Yuma, the Foothills and Wellton.
Jimenez also received donations collected by Heather Pettigrew, a local mother of two who has also been collecting supplies in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.
“I (saw) a video clip of two little kids sitting on the freeway shivering with no clothes on, standing next to their mother I believe, and it was so disheartening,” Pettigrew told the Yuma Sun in a text. “I started posting on Facebook — the Exchange, everywhere I could — letting people know that I was going to send donations, that I didn’t mind doing it and I got an overwhelming response from the community.”
Pettigrew noted that she already sent the first batch of supplies she received with local
Yuman David Murray, who on Thursday took a load to Beaumont, Texas, she said. Beaumont is a city located in the southeastern part of the state.
Jimenez said Murray had more supplies than he can transport and gave his excess supplies to her as she makes her way to Rockport. Crazy Earl’s Cocktail and Pool will sponsor Jimenez’s trip.
“Once we got this out there the generosity has just kept coming in, and that is what I like about Yuma,” Natasha Heredia, owner of Crazy Earl’s and a friend of Jimenez, said in a phone interview. “Everyone is willing to help. We need to get a bigger trailer to take more stuff than we thought, and that is a good problem to have.”
Those who wish to add to the supplies Jimenez and her brother will transport still have a small window to do so before they depart on Friday.
Supplies can be dropped off at the bar, located at 11274 S. Fortuna
Road, Suite C12 in the Foothills.
They will open at 6 a.m. Friday Jimenez said she will accept donations until 2 p.m. on Friday before beginning her journey.
For questions, Heredia said Crazy Earl’s can be contacted at (928) 342-2149.
The bar will also post photos and updates about Jimenez’s trip on their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/ CrazyEarlsYuma/?ref=page_internal
Pettigrew said she can also be reached about her donation collection efforts at (928) 388-4231.
Port Aransas and Ingleside, Texas, were also reported to have sustained great damage as well in the storm’s aftermath. To check for local charities in areas affected by Harvey, visit www.charitynavigator.org/.
To make a donation to the Red Cross, visit redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.