West Street Recovery Harvey Relief
Donation protected
Update January 2019
West Street Recovery is thrilled to announce we are now registered as a 501c3 organization with the IRS! We believe this is a huge accomplishment that will enable us to continue our work for the long haul. Thanks so much to all of you who have supported us via our GoFundMe Campaign. Our 501c3 status allows us to issue tax receipts back to September 2017, however GoFundMe is great about keeping donor info private, and we can’t access your contact information to issue receipts. To request a tax receipt, please send us a message including your first and last name, address, email address, donation amount and donation date (click on the envelope on our gofundme campaign home page to send us a message). Stay tuned for updates to our website to allow us to accept donations and issue tax receipts directly.
With Gratitude,
West Street Recovery
-------------------------------------------------------------
***UPDATE August 2018***
What a year it has been for West Street Recovery! We started with bikes and boats and now have five staff members who rebuild homes, help residents navigate a complex and incredibly difficult recovery, connect families to large rebuild aid groups, and advocate for policies that promote an equitable recovery and create lasting benefit for people of Houston.
Nearly a year after Harvey struck, we are still helping families rebuild their homes and their lives. Moreover, we hope to create resiliency within these communities to prevent this amount of damage from happening again. Our work is made possible by the generosity of individuals from the greater Houston area who are committed to restoring dignity and hope to their neighbors. If you would like to support an organization that puts every dollar towards direct recovery efforts, please consider donating to West Street Recovery.
Our Story
West Street Recovery began as a few friends with a truck and inflatable kayak ferrying folks across the flood waters and sheltering those who couldn’t make it to family members in our own homes. We spent another three weeks coordinating and distributing tens of thousands of dollars in supplies and meals to residents in Kashmere Gardens, Trinity Gardens and Lakewood, neighborhoods that the larger aid organizations were slow to reach. After immediate survival needs had been addressed, we moved on to gutting over 60 homes. Recently, we have focused our efforts on rebuilds and case management. We are thankful for the volunteer network that we have cultivated throughout this process, and owe our accomplishments to all of the people who have lent their time to distribution, mucking and rebuild efforts.
Our Mission
West Street Recovery (WSR) is a horizontally organized grassroots mutual aid group which aims to use the Harvey Recovery to build community power. Our driving principle is to work together with community members, not for them, or on their behalf. Our work is rooted in an understanding that certain communities were disproportionately impacted by Harvey because they lack access to resources and power, and that the same actors and forces which produced these inequities cannot be expected to adequately support communities in recovery. We believe that the communities who were most harmed by Harvey are the people who best understand what can protect them in the future. As an interclass, interracial organization we are uniquely positioned to create these connections and help residents improve their neighborhoods in ways they see fit.
-------------------------------------------------------------
***UPDATE October 10th***
Direct donations with lower fees can be made here:
Friends, Family, Neighbors, Houstonians, Fellow Humans,
West Street Recovery began as a few friends with a truck and inflatable kayak ferrying folks across the flood waters and sheltering those who couldn’t make it to family members in our own homes. After the worst danger passed, we moved onto feeding those in need and asking them directly what their friends, family, and neighbors required. This effort was followed by connecting donations from in and outside Houston to the mostly Black and Brown communities where we had been active. Even in the aftermath of Harvey, which showed so clearly our common humanity, these neighborhoods are being neglected by aid agencies and our governments. As we distributed these supplies we began gathering lists of houses that needed to be cleaned out. We have been coordinating volunteer crews to do this work. In addition we helped families fill out FEMA forms, access disaster aid through other organizations, attain medical supplies, and even get legal help if that was what they needed.
Today, as you drive through Houston, it’s easy to miss the neighborhoods still devastated by the flooding. It’s six weeks since Harvey, but WSR is still meeting elderly couples living in houses with flooded furniture and walls, families staying at their in-laws, where their four children share the couch and floor space, and households staying in tents on driveways because the temporary housing options offered to them are too far away from their jobs and schools. In these same neighborhoods, we’re meeting organizers who’ve been on the street identifying their community’s needs, individuals connecting truckloads of donations to families that lost everything, and community members who have visions for their communities where they have the resources, education, and connections to be a prospering, resilient, and self-reliant neighborhood.
West Street Recovery is a horizontal relief organization which aims to use the Harvey Recovery to build community power. Our driving principle is to work together with community members, not for them, or on their behalf. Our work is rooted in an understanding that certain communities were disproportionately impacted by Harvey because they lack access to resources and power, and that the same actors and forces which produced these inequities cannot be expected to adequately support these communities in recovery. We believe that the communities who were most harmed by Harvey are the people who best understand what can protect them in the future. The long term solutions to the problems that allowed the rain water to be so destructive need to be community driven, but residents need to be connected to the immense resources that currently exist to realize the future they envision. As an interclass, and interracial organization we are uniquely positioned to create these connections and help residents improve their neighborhoods in they ways they see fit.
Through our work, we have encountered many families that need ongoing support to rebuild their lives. We are currently working with over one hundred and fifty households who have been identified through canvassing efforts. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. This complexity means that depending totally on volunteer efforts is inadequate. To not only recover what was lost, but also to rebuild neighborhoods that are more resilient and powerful, and meet the needs of the families we work with, we need dedicated full-time staff. This will enable us to work with households on an individual basis connect them to people and places that can meet their immediate needs, organize volunteers to clean out and rebuild their homes and work with them to improve their lives.
One purpose of this fund raising campaign is to pay staff members assisting impacted families a fair and living wage.This fundraiser will also cover professional contract services provided by locally owned business in order to circulate funds in communities needing them the most and turning a catastrophe into an opportunity for job creation. In order to use the recovery to generate locally rooted economic growth, we will, whenever it is possible, continue purchasing the supplies we need for our efforts from businesses that are locally owned by People of Color and women.
To make these goals a reality, we need your help. Please support our effort to continue connecting communities to the resources and services they so badly need.
Money will be used for:
- Salaries for Full-time Staff members for the upcoming three months
- Professional Contracting services needed to rehabilitate homes
- Continue to purchase tools, supplies, tents, tarps, and other recovery needs
- Personal protective equipment to keep everyone safe and healthy
- Fuel and food for volunteers and team members doing the work
- Other needs that our impacted residents may need
Working with NuWaters Coop to bring healthy food to communities.
House cleanouts in the Mesa/Tidwell area.
STORIES
West Street Recovery has been people helping each other directly.about stories. About relationships. About seeing each other’s humanity. And About learning each other’s stories
Early on we were fortunate to get to host a grandmother and son from Kashmere Gardens who brought warmth and good hearted sass into our home. After the rescues stopped, we sent bright eyed volunteers went to affected communities to do pop-up meal servinging in vacant lots and empty parking lots. Stores were closed. Churches were shuttered and managing their own water issues. We empowered folks of all walks of life to go out to their Houston neighbors and share food and supplies wherever they could put up a folding table.
After the food sharing slowed down and the house cleaning began, we started to spend get more time with residents. One of our favorite moments came during a BLMHOU cleanup day. Two of us were sent out in a car to find homes that needed more flood cleanup work. After much driving and a bit of confusion, we ended up on Rand Street in Kashmere Gardens. We approached a two story house which backs up to Hunting Bayou and a woman greeted us with a big smile and pointed to her house saying that we had arrived and she had been waiting for us. She walked us around her home which had mold 4 feet up the walls, her possessions were sopping wet all over the house, and when she opened the cabinet in the back it had hundreds of knitting patterns. We called the team to send volunteers directly over, as they were available. That afternoon, we were able to clear out 2 rooms and made a plan to come back the next day. We ended up working there all week.
Chatting with Ms Sandra while taking a break from the stench of mold, Ms Sandra told us that she had just come to realize the severity of living in the home as more and more mold was forming. That morning at church she prayed for someone to come to her home and work with her on the cleanout. As the other BLMHOU volunteers arrived, we realized we hadn’t gone to the address we were told. That address was two doors down. This is the story of West Street. We often don’t know where we are going, but we continue to find ourselves right where we are called to be.
It has been a blessing for me personally (Andrew), getting to know Ms Sandra. She gives me life and relationship advice that I cherish and I get to serve her by connecting her to resources.
A week later, after working at another home in the area we dropped in on Ms Sandra. One of our team members had stepped on a nail just as we wrapped up demoing for the day. Ms Sandra did not hesitate in getting a bottle of peroxide and cleaning out the foot. This was a wonderful moment to appreciate that we are there for each other. We are in this together.
As it turns out, Ms Sandra is an avid knitter for all types of things, but one of her projects is to knit blankets for premature babies born at a Houston area hospital. In this storm she lost most of her fabric and patterns, 60 years of life possessions, family photos, and all the things that make her house a home. A lifetime of memories and a collection of fabric on a path to be knitted into blankets of compassion, lost. This is not her first flood, but she wants it to be her last.
Ms Sandra is fortunate to already have a long term living situation starting later this year. She wants to sell her home, which is not a unique story in the area. She doesn’t have money to rebuild, let alone elevate the home to protect it from future storm waterfloods. West Street opposes gentrification based on motives of profit and sees the culture of neighborhoods like Kashmere Gardens as one worthy of preservation. There are already community organizations working on collective organizing buyouts or transfers of homes to those interested in preserving neighborhood culture. We aim to support those and other efforts that will build resiliency and self-reliant neighborhoods for future storms and for the overall well-being of black, brown, and poor communities.
With love,
The West Street Recovery Team
***END UPDATE Oct 10th***
-------------------------------------------------------------
***UPDATE Oct 3rd***
Thank you so so much for your continued support. We are honored to receive these fund and continue to pledge to use them in and for the communities of east Houston. We do have a new website and a new crowdfunding page, which is available here:
New Website:
http://www.weststreetrecovery.org
-------------------------------------------------------------
***September Update***
Friends, Family, Neighbors, Houstonians, Fellow Humans,
Harvey has taken us all by surprise, but the best surprise so far has been the response we have seen from so many people on the ground and from afar. We saw babies pulled out of homes today, elderly walked and boated out of homes, and countless boats belonging to willing neighbors making efforts to get more people out. People have been kind to each other. It has been a blessing to be able to get folks out and hear their story. We are meeting Houstonians we never would have otherwise.
We were also heartbroken to see upper 5th Ward under several feet of water and the Tidwell area (farther north) even more devastated. We aren’t even done with the rain, which continues behind the sound of toads outside right now. Our hearts go out to those still stuck in homes in Northeast Houston. We hope the water recedes enough for more rescues to happen soon.
Our effort so far has been…
- Finding addresses in 5th ward and Tidwell area of those needing rescue
- Sending kayaks, canoes, bikes, and trucks to perform rescues from homes
- Shuttling people across flood waters in kayaks and canoes to reach safe ground
- Transitioning to using our house as homebase for volunteers to meet and dispatch
- Hosting a few folks who don't have other options
- The plan is to continue support after the storm, so funds would support that effort. We will post updates on that effort.
After much group discussion tonight, we have decided to start a GoFundMe. We are committing to do what we can in the continued rescue efforts. We are seeing a lot of folks wanting to help and we want to channel that energy into local rescue and recovery efforts.
Funds would be used for…
- Gas
- Keeping vehicles running
- Supplies for those rescued & still stranded
- Food and other living expenses for those rescued and the volunteers who are still coming to help
It is important for us to be transparent about where this money is going and thus we will post about how money is being used and distributed as best we can. Focusing on rescue efforts at the moment!
In the event of surplus funds we plan to send support to organizations such as…
- Mutual Air Relief Network
- Friends and Family Relief Effort
- 5th Ward recovery efforts
- Other local efforts for rescue and recover
Gofundme had these questions for us, which are good.
- Who you are and where you’re from?
Andrew Cobb from Houston Texas. Currently living in 5th Ward.
- Your relationship or contact to the parties you're raising funds for...
We are raising money for our rescue and relief efforts. We have some 5th Ward resisdents in our home, we are hosting volunteers and going on missions to rescue people.
- How the funds will be spent (be specific as possible)
-- Gas for truck
-- Keeping vehicles running...flood waters are treterous
-- Supplies for those rescued & still stranded
-- Supplies to rescue people
-- Food and other living expenses for those rescued and the volunteers who are still coming to help
- Your withdrawal plan to get the funds from the campaign to the ultimate beneficiary/ies
-- With short notice, we can't form a nonprofit. I will take responsibility to take fund to my bank account and work with our team to determine the best use for them. Again, surplus will be sent to other on the ground and relief efforts.
Y'all are incredible! Feeling so much love.
***September Update***
-------------------------------------------------------------
West Street Recovery is thrilled to announce we are now registered as a 501c3 organization with the IRS! We believe this is a huge accomplishment that will enable us to continue our work for the long haul. Thanks so much to all of you who have supported us via our GoFundMe Campaign. Our 501c3 status allows us to issue tax receipts back to September 2017, however GoFundMe is great about keeping donor info private, and we can’t access your contact information to issue receipts. To request a tax receipt, please send us a message including your first and last name, address, email address, donation amount and donation date (click on the envelope on our gofundme campaign home page to send us a message). Stay tuned for updates to our website to allow us to accept donations and issue tax receipts directly.
With Gratitude,
West Street Recovery
-------------------------------------------------------------
***UPDATE August 2018***
What a year it has been for West Street Recovery! We started with bikes and boats and now have five staff members who rebuild homes, help residents navigate a complex and incredibly difficult recovery, connect families to large rebuild aid groups, and advocate for policies that promote an equitable recovery and create lasting benefit for people of Houston.
Nearly a year after Harvey struck, we are still helping families rebuild their homes and their lives. Moreover, we hope to create resiliency within these communities to prevent this amount of damage from happening again. Our work is made possible by the generosity of individuals from the greater Houston area who are committed to restoring dignity and hope to their neighbors. If you would like to support an organization that puts every dollar towards direct recovery efforts, please consider donating to West Street Recovery.
Our Story
West Street Recovery began as a few friends with a truck and inflatable kayak ferrying folks across the flood waters and sheltering those who couldn’t make it to family members in our own homes. We spent another three weeks coordinating and distributing tens of thousands of dollars in supplies and meals to residents in Kashmere Gardens, Trinity Gardens and Lakewood, neighborhoods that the larger aid organizations were slow to reach. After immediate survival needs had been addressed, we moved on to gutting over 60 homes. Recently, we have focused our efforts on rebuilds and case management. We are thankful for the volunteer network that we have cultivated throughout this process, and owe our accomplishments to all of the people who have lent their time to distribution, mucking and rebuild efforts.
Our Mission
West Street Recovery (WSR) is a horizontally organized grassroots mutual aid group which aims to use the Harvey Recovery to build community power. Our driving principle is to work together with community members, not for them, or on their behalf. Our work is rooted in an understanding that certain communities were disproportionately impacted by Harvey because they lack access to resources and power, and that the same actors and forces which produced these inequities cannot be expected to adequately support communities in recovery. We believe that the communities who were most harmed by Harvey are the people who best understand what can protect them in the future. As an interclass, interracial organization we are uniquely positioned to create these connections and help residents improve their neighborhoods in ways they see fit.
-------------------------------------------------------------
***UPDATE October 10th***
Direct donations with lower fees can be made here:
Friends, Family, Neighbors, Houstonians, Fellow Humans,
West Street Recovery began as a few friends with a truck and inflatable kayak ferrying folks across the flood waters and sheltering those who couldn’t make it to family members in our own homes. After the worst danger passed, we moved onto feeding those in need and asking them directly what their friends, family, and neighbors required. This effort was followed by connecting donations from in and outside Houston to the mostly Black and Brown communities where we had been active. Even in the aftermath of Harvey, which showed so clearly our common humanity, these neighborhoods are being neglected by aid agencies and our governments. As we distributed these supplies we began gathering lists of houses that needed to be cleaned out. We have been coordinating volunteer crews to do this work. In addition we helped families fill out FEMA forms, access disaster aid through other organizations, attain medical supplies, and even get legal help if that was what they needed.
Today, as you drive through Houston, it’s easy to miss the neighborhoods still devastated by the flooding. It’s six weeks since Harvey, but WSR is still meeting elderly couples living in houses with flooded furniture and walls, families staying at their in-laws, where their four children share the couch and floor space, and households staying in tents on driveways because the temporary housing options offered to them are too far away from their jobs and schools. In these same neighborhoods, we’re meeting organizers who’ve been on the street identifying their community’s needs, individuals connecting truckloads of donations to families that lost everything, and community members who have visions for their communities where they have the resources, education, and connections to be a prospering, resilient, and self-reliant neighborhood.
West Street Recovery is a horizontal relief organization which aims to use the Harvey Recovery to build community power. Our driving principle is to work together with community members, not for them, or on their behalf. Our work is rooted in an understanding that certain communities were disproportionately impacted by Harvey because they lack access to resources and power, and that the same actors and forces which produced these inequities cannot be expected to adequately support these communities in recovery. We believe that the communities who were most harmed by Harvey are the people who best understand what can protect them in the future. The long term solutions to the problems that allowed the rain water to be so destructive need to be community driven, but residents need to be connected to the immense resources that currently exist to realize the future they envision. As an interclass, and interracial organization we are uniquely positioned to create these connections and help residents improve their neighborhoods in they ways they see fit.
Through our work, we have encountered many families that need ongoing support to rebuild their lives. We are currently working with over one hundred and fifty households who have been identified through canvassing efforts. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. This complexity means that depending totally on volunteer efforts is inadequate. To not only recover what was lost, but also to rebuild neighborhoods that are more resilient and powerful, and meet the needs of the families we work with, we need dedicated full-time staff. This will enable us to work with households on an individual basis connect them to people and places that can meet their immediate needs, organize volunteers to clean out and rebuild their homes and work with them to improve their lives.
One purpose of this fund raising campaign is to pay staff members assisting impacted families a fair and living wage.This fundraiser will also cover professional contract services provided by locally owned business in order to circulate funds in communities needing them the most and turning a catastrophe into an opportunity for job creation. In order to use the recovery to generate locally rooted economic growth, we will, whenever it is possible, continue purchasing the supplies we need for our efforts from businesses that are locally owned by People of Color and women.
To make these goals a reality, we need your help. Please support our effort to continue connecting communities to the resources and services they so badly need.
Money will be used for:
- Salaries for Full-time Staff members for the upcoming three months
- Professional Contracting services needed to rehabilitate homes
- Continue to purchase tools, supplies, tents, tarps, and other recovery needs
- Personal protective equipment to keep everyone safe and healthy
- Fuel and food for volunteers and team members doing the work
- Other needs that our impacted residents may need
Working with NuWaters Coop to bring healthy food to communities.
House cleanouts in the Mesa/Tidwell area.
STORIES
West Street Recovery has been people helping each other directly.about stories. About relationships. About seeing each other’s humanity. And About learning each other’s stories
Early on we were fortunate to get to host a grandmother and son from Kashmere Gardens who brought warmth and good hearted sass into our home. After the rescues stopped, we sent bright eyed volunteers went to affected communities to do pop-up meal servinging in vacant lots and empty parking lots. Stores were closed. Churches were shuttered and managing their own water issues. We empowered folks of all walks of life to go out to their Houston neighbors and share food and supplies wherever they could put up a folding table.
After the food sharing slowed down and the house cleaning began, we started to spend get more time with residents. One of our favorite moments came during a BLMHOU cleanup day. Two of us were sent out in a car to find homes that needed more flood cleanup work. After much driving and a bit of confusion, we ended up on Rand Street in Kashmere Gardens. We approached a two story house which backs up to Hunting Bayou and a woman greeted us with a big smile and pointed to her house saying that we had arrived and she had been waiting for us. She walked us around her home which had mold 4 feet up the walls, her possessions were sopping wet all over the house, and when she opened the cabinet in the back it had hundreds of knitting patterns. We called the team to send volunteers directly over, as they were available. That afternoon, we were able to clear out 2 rooms and made a plan to come back the next day. We ended up working there all week.
Chatting with Ms Sandra while taking a break from the stench of mold, Ms Sandra told us that she had just come to realize the severity of living in the home as more and more mold was forming. That morning at church she prayed for someone to come to her home and work with her on the cleanout. As the other BLMHOU volunteers arrived, we realized we hadn’t gone to the address we were told. That address was two doors down. This is the story of West Street. We often don’t know where we are going, but we continue to find ourselves right where we are called to be.
It has been a blessing for me personally (Andrew), getting to know Ms Sandra. She gives me life and relationship advice that I cherish and I get to serve her by connecting her to resources.
A week later, after working at another home in the area we dropped in on Ms Sandra. One of our team members had stepped on a nail just as we wrapped up demoing for the day. Ms Sandra did not hesitate in getting a bottle of peroxide and cleaning out the foot. This was a wonderful moment to appreciate that we are there for each other. We are in this together.
As it turns out, Ms Sandra is an avid knitter for all types of things, but one of her projects is to knit blankets for premature babies born at a Houston area hospital. In this storm she lost most of her fabric and patterns, 60 years of life possessions, family photos, and all the things that make her house a home. A lifetime of memories and a collection of fabric on a path to be knitted into blankets of compassion, lost. This is not her first flood, but she wants it to be her last.
Ms Sandra is fortunate to already have a long term living situation starting later this year. She wants to sell her home, which is not a unique story in the area. She doesn’t have money to rebuild, let alone elevate the home to protect it from future storm waterfloods. West Street opposes gentrification based on motives of profit and sees the culture of neighborhoods like Kashmere Gardens as one worthy of preservation. There are already community organizations working on collective organizing buyouts or transfers of homes to those interested in preserving neighborhood culture. We aim to support those and other efforts that will build resiliency and self-reliant neighborhoods for future storms and for the overall well-being of black, brown, and poor communities.
With love,
The West Street Recovery Team
***END UPDATE Oct 10th***
-------------------------------------------------------------
***UPDATE Oct 3rd***
Thank you so so much for your continued support. We are honored to receive these fund and continue to pledge to use them in and for the communities of east Houston. We do have a new website and a new crowdfunding page, which is available here:
New Website:
http://www.weststreetrecovery.org
-------------------------------------------------------------
***September Update***
Friends, Family, Neighbors, Houstonians, Fellow Humans,
Harvey has taken us all by surprise, but the best surprise so far has been the response we have seen from so many people on the ground and from afar. We saw babies pulled out of homes today, elderly walked and boated out of homes, and countless boats belonging to willing neighbors making efforts to get more people out. People have been kind to each other. It has been a blessing to be able to get folks out and hear their story. We are meeting Houstonians we never would have otherwise.
We were also heartbroken to see upper 5th Ward under several feet of water and the Tidwell area (farther north) even more devastated. We aren’t even done with the rain, which continues behind the sound of toads outside right now. Our hearts go out to those still stuck in homes in Northeast Houston. We hope the water recedes enough for more rescues to happen soon.
Our effort so far has been…
- Finding addresses in 5th ward and Tidwell area of those needing rescue
- Sending kayaks, canoes, bikes, and trucks to perform rescues from homes
- Shuttling people across flood waters in kayaks and canoes to reach safe ground
- Transitioning to using our house as homebase for volunteers to meet and dispatch
- Hosting a few folks who don't have other options
- The plan is to continue support after the storm, so funds would support that effort. We will post updates on that effort.
After much group discussion tonight, we have decided to start a GoFundMe. We are committing to do what we can in the continued rescue efforts. We are seeing a lot of folks wanting to help and we want to channel that energy into local rescue and recovery efforts.
Funds would be used for…
- Gas
- Keeping vehicles running
- Supplies for those rescued & still stranded
- Food and other living expenses for those rescued and the volunteers who are still coming to help
It is important for us to be transparent about where this money is going and thus we will post about how money is being used and distributed as best we can. Focusing on rescue efforts at the moment!
In the event of surplus funds we plan to send support to organizations such as…
- Mutual Air Relief Network
- Friends and Family Relief Effort
- 5th Ward recovery efforts
- Other local efforts for rescue and recover
Gofundme had these questions for us, which are good.
- Who you are and where you’re from?
Andrew Cobb from Houston Texas. Currently living in 5th Ward.
- Your relationship or contact to the parties you're raising funds for...
We are raising money for our rescue and relief efforts. We have some 5th Ward resisdents in our home, we are hosting volunteers and going on missions to rescue people.
- How the funds will be spent (be specific as possible)
-- Gas for truck
-- Keeping vehicles running...flood waters are treterous
-- Supplies for those rescued & still stranded
-- Supplies to rescue people
-- Food and other living expenses for those rescued and the volunteers who are still coming to help
- Your withdrawal plan to get the funds from the campaign to the ultimate beneficiary/ies
-- With short notice, we can't form a nonprofit. I will take responsibility to take fund to my bank account and work with our team to determine the best use for them. Again, surplus will be sent to other on the ground and relief efforts.
Y'all are incredible! Feeling so much love.
***September Update***
-------------------------------------------------------------
Organizer
West Street Recovery
Organizer
Houston, TX