Buckets for Harvey give hurricane victims needed supplies

GRAPEVINE—Even a 2-year-old can help the flood victims of Houston. That’s the plan at the home of Kristin Leonard, where her family is packing cleaning supplies that will be headed to Southeast Texas. After Normandale Baptist Church in Fort Worth announced plans to collect Buckets for Harvey, she saw it as an opportunity for her family to get involved.

“My 2-year old will love putting things in a bucket, and our 5-year old will have some understanding of what happened and why people need these things,” Leonard told the TEXAN. “We looked at the list and it’s all manageable, so I sent out a Facebook message to see if other people wanted to help.”

The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention is asking churches and individuals to begin collecting five-gallon buckets with lids and pack them with 18 items that range from respirators to eyeglass protectors to work gloves. Together, the supplies will cost about $50.

When Church at the Cross in Grapevine advised members of the project, Staci Taylor invited neighbors on her street to a packing party on a Sunday night. “Join us to help meet a very practical and essential need for our Texas families,” she wrote in a Facebook post to friends.

“We want to be a people of action in this situation to shine light in the darkness,” wrote Geoffrey Bertram, minister to life groups. The church provided the buckets for families to fill with supplies.

SBTC Field Ministry Strategist Mitch Kolenovsky still remembers how grateful he was to a local church that showed up with cleaning supplies when his home in Seguin flooded nearly two decades ago. “Things like bleach and sponges are real necessities because mold and mildew becomes a huge problem in the aftermath of any flooding that takes place. You need to be able to kill that out as soon as possible,” he said.

As of Sept. 1, 13 churches spread across the state will serve as collection sites for the buckets. For the DFW area, those include Providence Church in Frisco, Mesquite Friendship Baptist in Mesquite, Hillcrest Baptist in Cedar Hill, First Baptist in Colleyville, The Church on Rush Creek in Arlington, Travis Avenue Baptist and Normandale Baptist in Fort Worth, and Grace Covenant in Weatherford.

First Baptist in Odessa and Southcrest Baptist in Lubbock will serve as the West Texas collection points, while Paramount Baptist in Amarillo will receive buckets in the Panhandle. University Baptist in San Antonio will collect buckets from churches in Central Texas, and New Beginnings Baptist in Longview will handle East Texas.

Providence Church in Frisco will make their delivery Sept. 11, while a team from Normandale Baptist will head out with buckets the following week. Other sites have a longer time frame with late September deliveries. Churches planning to receive and distribute the buckets include Sportsman’s Church in Victoria, First Baptist Church in Beaumont and Houston’s First Baptist Church.

Each five-gallon bucket should contain 18 items:

• Terry towels (4-pack or can buy in bulk and separate, thin not thick)
• Trash bags (roll of 25, may need to buy in bulk and separate)
• Mold control spray bottle
• Ajax dish soap
• Cleaner with bleach in spray bottle
• 12 3/4″ Wonderbar pry bar
• Small first-aid kit
• Duct tape roll
• Scrub brush
• Leather work/palm gloves (3-pack)
• Disposable gloves (2-pack)
• Utility knife
• Sharpie permanent marker (2-pack)
• 3M eyeglass protector
• Small hygiene kit (or use feminine napkins/pads purchased in bulk then separate some into ziploc)
• 11″ zip ties/cable ties (100 pack or similar)
• Respirator (2-pack)
• Sponges (3-pack, pack these last under the lid)

For drop off locations and specific instructions for packing, visit sbtexas.com/harvey, and click on “Buckets for Harvey.”

Buckets for Harvey from SBTC Videos on Vimeo.