Bauer marketing junior Hava Schultz shares her story of how her family, and community, were affected during Hurricane Harvey, and how they responded with service and tenacity.
Hurricane Harvey — it blew us all away. During the days leading up to its arrival, Houstonians cleared the shelves of grocery stores and drained pumps at gas stations. Everyone was preparing … but no one was prepared for what actually happened.
For days and nights it rained and rained and rained — just about nonstop. I sat in my safe, dry home glued to the news — the water rose in the city around me. The bayous overflowed. The reservoirs were pushed to their limits. Buildings that had never flooded were swamped. People had to be rescued by cars, boats, and airlifts.
Once Harvey finally decided to move on, Houston was left with the aftermath of flooded homes and businesses. Some people lost everything they owned. Like many other helpful community members, my family immediately put on our boots, rolled up our sleeves, and got to work on the needy homes.
We assisted in several Meyerland homes. I stand at a proud 5’1”, and the waterline in these homes reached anywhere from my ankles to above my head; there was work for everyone. Although my asthma prohibits me from partaking in construction, I was constantly busy saving family photos, taking inventory for insurance, packing boxes to move, and creating mountains on the curbs, among a plethora of other tasks.
However, my family is not unique in our efforts to help flood victims. Across the city people are helping each other. Businesses are waving fees. The University of Houston is making accommodations in the areas of financial aid and other resources such as laptops. In fact, the University of Houston and the Bauer College assured me throughout the entire episode that school would not be an additional concern. I received daily Harvey updates keeping me informed of UH’s efforts. The strong communication was important because with all the unknowns around the city, school was not one of them.
The storm caused destruction of a lot of material items, but it also influenced construction and reconstruction of bonds between friends, families, and Houstonians in the community at large. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to help people in need and to see that the Houston spirit can never be washed away.
By Hava Schultz, Marketing junior
Bauer Professors Care
Hava reached out about the hurricance, the sadness of it all and her volunteering efforts to her Accountancy and Taxation Principles Professor, Dr. Kiran Partha, who suggested she write about the entire experience and forward it to her. Dr. Partha then forwarded the article to the Dean’s office.
Have a story about how you helped during Harvey? Email it — and photos — to us at suggestions@bauer.uh.edu and we’ll publish it on WhereAwesomeHappens.com.