A Booster Shot for Morale after Hurricane Harvey

In Beaumont and Orange, Texas, almost every family was hit hard by Hurricane Harvey. People were spending their waking hours gutting soaked homes, heaving wet furniture to the curb and wondering where they’d be living next year. Crystal Jones, the assistant principle of a local high school, knew her students’ families needed a morale boost. Her solution: A Friday night football game. Americares knew that residents might need something else—a vaccine to protect them from deadly tetanus.  People can become infected with tetanus if they are cut by dirty debris. An Americares emergency response team partnered with Crystal and local health care providers, then arrived at the game with coolers packed with tetanus vaccine. The scheme worked: the game drew a crowd, people shared their stories of the storm and, if needed, received a dose of vaccine. Building off its success, Americares worked with local organizations to hold more tetanus vaccination clinics at football and volleyball games in this corner of rural Texas. “Being able to work with someone like Crystal—a woman who saw a need in her community and moved mountains to serve them—was incredibly inspiring, says Americares Manager of Gift-in-Kind Process Management Andrew Dunn, on Americares emergency response team in Texas. Crystal and Alex from our emergency team working together for the community. “She brought a population absolutely devastated by flooding together under the lights on Friday night and made sure they got both a much needed dose of normalcy—and we covered anyone who needed a dose vaccine.”

Americares emergency response team continues to expand relief efforts wiith local partners in communities like Beaumont. We are committed to helping these communities in the recovery from Hurricane Harvey for as long as we are needed. Should Americares raise funds in excess of what’s needed to respond to this particular crisis, the funds will be redirected to where the need is greatest.