2019 Tornado... 2020 Pandemic... 2021 Ice Storm/Power Grid Failure... Deborah Always Acts Quickly.

  Within hours of the tornado strike the night of October 20, 2019 (which badly damaged her own home), Deborah had arranged for hot meals to be served starting early the next morning in the hardest-hit neighborhood.  Lavon Drive Baptist Church served meals there the first 3 days, then various Garland restaurants stepped in to help. Numerous nonprofits, city officials and private citizens also showed up for weeks afterward to clear downed trees and debris and to help serve meals.   

The first city facilities to be closed in Garland were our two Senior Centers--which suddenly put many seniors who lived alone in a very isolated situation. Deborah immediately set up a Senior "Phone Buddies" program to match willing Garland participants with seniors who expressed a desire for someone to call and chat with them several times a week. Originally conceived as a short-term program, it continued as a lifeline for lonely seniors the entire time until the Senior Centers reopened.

In May 2020, Deborah received messages from several non-English speaking communities in Garland asking for clarification about how to stay safe on the job. Many worked in manufacturing. Deborah immediately provided Spanish and Vietnamese job site and personal safety guidelines, then worked through a translator to provide guidance to a community whose language was unavailable in written form.

Starting the day before the major power outages began on Feb 15, 2021 and continuing throughout the crisis, Deborah answered calls and messages, posted constant updates, and provided guidance to Garland citizens trying to navigate the severe cold and power loss--including helping locate firewood, warning against using gas stoves or portable generators indoors for heat, advising about how to save frozen food, arranging the loan of emergency generators (outdoor use) to power lifesaving medical equipment for several elderly residents, and more.

Early on Feb 19th, Deborah started hearing from apartment residents who lacked water due to frozen/burst pipes. She put out a call for water bottle donations and quickly set up teams of volunteers to deliver them to thousands of distressed apartment residents. She coordinated the delivery teams full-time for the next 4 days until additional help became available. Her teams delivered over 40,000 bottles to apartments citywide. In addition she arranged for food to be delivered to several properties with senior or disadvantaged residents, and for hot showers to be offered through a local church.  

It wasn't only apartments that suffered burst pipes once the temperatures rose above freezing. Deborah provided distressed Garland homeowners with specific information about Emergency Home Repair Assistance, food assistance, how to apply for water leak credits, and more.