HARLINGEN — In a new tack for the nonprofit, Habitat for Humanity of the Rio Grande Valley is embarking on an effort to save homes instead of building them.
Habitat RGV’s Executive Director Wayne Lowry said yesterday his organization had its first truckload of disaster supplies ready for Corpus Christi and points north.
Two trucks were scheduled to head north yesterday afternoon, carrying water, hygiene products and other disaster relief aid.
And a pallet of giant vinyl tarps which had once touted the virtues of some company on a highway billboard.
“Those billboard vinyls are very, very useful for the roof damage, when the shingles are ripped off by the winds, and so to kind of prevent additional damage from the rainfall, we’ll be able to place those billboard vinyls over those holes in the roof to try to preserve whatever remains of the contents of the home,” Lowry said yesterday.
“Back in Dolly we were able to use the same billboard vinyls and cover a lot of roofs,” he said.
The billboard vinyls were a donation from Steve Jennings, president of Benchmark Outdoor, and he said he looks at these used, intact vinyls as something to be re-purposed when the occasion arises. When a new billboard goes up, the old vinyl goes into storage.
“A new vinyl, we normally charge $950 installed on a billboard for a customer,” Jennings said. “They’re very high quality. They’re guaranteed for color quality for two years and so they really have a structural life of about five years.
“So we take those down and we save them up because we know there will be a hurricane, there’ll be tornadoes, there’ll be something, so we try to have those ready for when there’s an event that we can help with that,” he added.
At the back of a loaded Habitat truck, workers assessed their packing skills.
“We’ve got about four of five pallets of water, we’ve got a whole bunch of canned food, clothing, a lot of bedding, and we’ve also got some toys for the kids, and that way they can stay concentrated and not be worrying about what’s going on,” said Habitat worker Juan Martinez.
“We’re probably going to have to make two trips, to Corpus and Victoria,” he added.
So what do you decide to load to take to those in need?
“The essentials of life,” Martinez answered.
Those essentials, Lowry said, need not be expensive. In fact, you probably already have items which are desperately needed in Corpus Christi and surrounding areas.
“We all bought extra bottles of water in preparation for a storm, or we bought batteries, or we bought bug spray,” Lowry said. “We bought these things in preparation — and it missed us.
“We have the means to donate what we’ve already purchased,” he added. “You don’t have to buy anything else, just donate what you’ve already collected, what you’ve already gathered up, so we can go get it into the hands of the people who need it.”
Lowry said the cost of transporting the relief goods would come out of Habitat’s budget, but added he wouldn’t turn away anybody who might want to donate a gas card or two to be used by his trucks.
“This is a little outside of our norm,” he conceded as he spoke of the impromptu relief effort, “but we feel like we’ve been called to be people of action.”
