Shelby County Today

September 1, 2017 - Hillcrest Baptist Church is working on a clothing size list for their new evacuees who are without. Please bring ONLY gently used, good condition, clean items that you would still wear.

You can drop off at Custom Threads or take it to Hillcrest Baptist Church.

• Walking cane for an elderly lady
• Ladies Large/XL clothing
• Ladies underwear for all sizes
• Mens Large/XL/2X clothing
• Mens underwear for all sizes
• Boys size 12
• Clothes for boys age 2, 4 and 5 years
• Clothes for girls age 1, 8, 9 and 12 years
• Infant boy clothes for 9 months old

Shoes and undergarments are very important!! We need all underwear in all sizes kids and adults!! We are getting more evacuees today so we will need multiple sizes. The church does have showers on site and are trying to make sure evacuees have clean clothes to put on after taking a shower.

August 31, 2017 - In an effort to assist those impacted by the flooding due to Hurricane Harvey, we are collecting cleaning supplies, non-perishable food items, and personal care items such as toothpaste, deodorant, soap, shampoo, etc. Anyone wishing to contribute is asked to drop the items off at Sabine State Bank, 205 Hurst Street.

August 30, 2017 - Local efforts to collect items for Hurricane Harvey relief has been overwhelming and the trailer is half filled with supplies. Hillcrest Baptist Church has been a staging location for sorting of supplies coming in from all over Shelby County.

At Hillcrest Baptist Church, Donna Hughes visited with Shelby County Today about the donations being collected to help Hurricane Harvey victims, "We don't need any more clothing at this time. However, baby clothing such as onesies or something they could sleep in would be great or baby items which are used daily such as diapers, formula, baby food... we are trying to think of their immediate needs. Any kind of toiletries are really good such as tooth brushes, tooth paste, or hand wipes. I think more blankets, towels, wash clothes would be good."

Additional items Hughes recommend which are still needed: tarps, only clothes needed at this time are larger sizes of undergarments such as underwear and socks, first aid kits, bandages, antibiotic creams, Tylenol/ibuprofen, pet food, ensure nutritional shakes, can food with easy open lids, and large plastic totes to group food and other items in for transportation.

She did advise the efforts for collecting supplies has been a county wide effort and definitely not just Hillcrest, "The community has just really come together to get us all this stuff and to get loaded up. It's been pretty amazing." They are hoping to have the trailer filled so Don Bush can leave with it on Friday, so, please bring donations as soon as possible.

Hughes reported at 1:30pm they did not have any evacuees on site although some had stopped in earlier, "We are a pass through town but we have the facilities (kitchen and showers) to house anybody that is tired, that needs to stop and shower, or get a hot meal. If they want to spend the night that is fine or they can stay the duration; we can keep them for two weeks. But they can also stop off here and rest up and leave. We don't mind. We have the facilities here to house upwards of 75 people."

Bro Gordon Vaughn, pastor at Hillcrest, said the church is doing the shelter and it isn't supported by FEMA since the county is a pass through county. Bro. Vaughn said the church has facilities to accommodate evacuees and the support from the community and other area churches all throughout the county makes it where the church can serve as a shelter. If evacuees don't stop, then volunteers will just continue collecting donations and sorting them for transport to Houston. The heart of all the volunteers to serve is there in whatever way it is needed.

A group is also planning to go on a feeding mission in a couple of weeks. "Anybody who would like to volunteer to go down to Corpus Christi on a feeding mission let me know because we will be going in about two weeks. Volunteers will be cooking and delivering meals to people in shelters. The trip will be a whole week but well worth it," said Bro. Gordon. If interested in going on the feeding mission, call 936-488-0923.

Hillcrest Baptist Church is located at 901 Southview Circle, Center Tx, (936) 598-2704. Anyone who can drop off donation items, they can just pull behind the church under the covered walkway and drop off their items even in the rain. Or if you need someone to come pickup items, call the church or Donna Hughes.

August 30, 2017 - Many Shelby County residents have headed down south to Houston to help with rescue efforts. Dean Mize, owner of ETX Outdoor Living, has been working hard to rescue stranded people and many of his actions have made national news coverage including images on CNN and an interview with KPRC2 News of Houston.

David Koonce and Rick Campbell, both members of the Shelby County Bass Anglers, traveled to help with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. During their work they picked up a news crew out of Philidephia reporting for NBC10 who interviewed them and evacuees. Click here to view the interview video. The interview starts at 5 mins and 50 seconds in.

Another Shelby County person who left to help with rescue efforts is Jeff Stewart (CrypoHulk) of Tenaha who is working with the Texas Navy Rescue group to help stranded victims. Constable Jake Metcalf also left out yesterday taking much needed supplies and to assist with rescue efforts.

If you know of additional Shelby County folks helping and would like to give recognition of their efforts, email info@shelbycountytoday.com.