HURRICANE RECOVERY WEATHERS THE STORM

Billy Graham’s Grandson Visits La Grange to Celebrate First Hope Hill Home

The Fayette County Disaster Recovery Team is winding down its operations in the coming months, as the organization it passed recovery efforts off to, Samaritan’s Purse, dedicated its first home to hurricane victims Wednesday.

The first new home in Hope Hill was dedicated on Wednesday, June 10. At a home blessing celebration that afternoon, Samaritan’s Purse presented keys to Francisca Castenada and her son Jose, who have lived in La Grange for the past 10 years and lost their home in the Hurricane Harvey Flood. Edward Graham, son of Samaritan’s Purse founder Franklin Graham and grandson of the famous evangelist Billy Graham, handed Francisca a bill for the costs of construction with a big stamp across the front that read “Paid in Full.”

“This is the first house of several more to come,” said Luther Harrison, vice president of North American ministries for Samaritan’s Purse. “Our teams have been working, even through COVID-19 ... This has been a community of homeowners helping each other, local citizens stepping up to the plate to make things happen.”

The Fayette County Disaster Recovery Team (FCDRT) has about $100,000 of remaining funds that it wants to use to benefit the community in some way, said FCDRT President Larry Jackson.

Monday night, Jackson presented a final report to the La Grange City Council about his organization’s efforts over the past three years to assist those affected by the historic Hurricane Harvey flood of 2017.

Jackson gave a brief history of his organization. Even as floodwaters inundated parts of town in September 2017, volunteers began organizing the group that became FCDRT. The La Grange Ministerial Alliance initially accepted donations for flood relief but then handed over those duties to the FCDRT.

“In the months that followed, (FCDRT) became the local point of contact for private sector relief agencies that subsequently have put thousands of hours and millions of dollars into rebuilding the lives of Fayette County residents whom Hurricane Harvey robbed of both property and hope,” Jackson said.

Since then, Jackson said, FCDRT has logged 35,447 volunteer hours, built 11 new homes with the help of Mennonite volunteers and procured $3.8 million in aid for 193 local families affected by the flood. In addition, the international Christian non-profit Samaritan’s Purse donated $3 million to FCDRT for the purchase of 22.95 acres of land on Horton Street. That property would become the Hope Hill subdivision, which Jackson described as “a new neighborhood in La Grange, built on high ground where Hurricane Harvey survivors would never have to fear flooding again.”

Jackson praised former FCDRT president Joy Cameron and her husband Steve for the rent-free use of a vacant industrial warehouse that the couple purchased soon before the 2017 flood. “For the next two years, this

“For the next two years, this was the hub of disaster recovery in the La Grange area,” Jackson said.

“Then in July 2019, another miracle occurred,” he added. “Samaritan’s Purse offered to provide full funding for completion of the new homes and subvision and to accept direct oversight of the project,” Jackson said. “A few more months of legal work was required, while work continued on the ground, but in early February 2020, (FCDRT) transferred outright ownership of Hope Hill to Samaritan’s Purse.”

At Monday’s meeting, Mayor Janet Moerbe issued a proclamation at the meeting praising FCDRT for the work over the past three years.

“You have been so supportive of us, and I appreciate that. I know you caught a lot of bullets for it,” Joy Cameron said at the meeting.

Indeed, while Cameron was president and the group began planning to build the Hope Hill subdivision, a group of neighbors on Horton Street rose up in opposition to the subdivision. Calling themselves the La Grange Citizens Alliance, the group was a fixture at City Council meetings, voicing concerns about how the new subdivision might negatively affect traffic, neighborhood aesthetics, property values, utility infrastructure and school resources.

Early during the planning for Hope Hill, FCDRT floated the idea of setting up the property as a land trust, whereby the residents would own their homes but not the land underneath. It was intended as a way of lowering homeownership costs for the residents. That proposal raised the most opposition, including from some members of the City Council. FCDRT then shifted to a traditional land ownership model.

The La Grange Citizens Alliance eventually dropped their opposition after Samaritan’s Purse took over construction and planning for Hope Hill. Some Alliance members even wrote a letter to the editor in the Record a few months ago expressing support for Hope Hill’s annexation.

Jackson told the Record that about $100,000 remains in FCDRT’s accounts. Much of that came from the recent sale of five travel trailers that FCDRT was using during the recovery effort.

“If you have any ideas about how we might be able to contribute this money to help out the community, we would certainly be open providing that to you,” Jackson told the City Council on Monday.

During the meeting, Jackson said one possible use would be to build a playground at Hope Hill. In an interview with the Record on Tuesday, Jackson said one way to maximize those funds would be to apply for a cost-share grant and use the remaining funds to cover the matching portion of the grant.

“Essentially, recovery is complete,” Jackson told the Record. “We’ve closed out all of our cases. We’re not an ongoing, forever organization.”

Jackson added that he has been “overwhelmed” by all of the other local organizations who came together to help with the recovery.

“It has been miraculous,” he said.