“Adopt-A-Town” Project Aids Victims of
Hurricane Rita

In the worst hurricane season in decades, hurricanes Katrina and Rita slammed the southeastern United States. More than 1,300 residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas were killed by the storms, and hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless or without electricity.

As the federal government struggled to assist those in need, the nation’s private sector stepped in to fill the void.

In Houston, Tx., Fox Broadcasting affiliate, Fox 26, sponsored “Adopt-A-Town,” a project designed to help small Texas towns that were hit hard by Hurricane Rita. As of early October, more than a dozen organizations had signed up to adopt towns in need. One of those organizations was Severn Trent Services’ Houston office. The company adopted the town of Coldspring, Tx. about 70 miles north of Houston. The town has a population of about 700, most of which went without power for nearly a week.

Fox 26 put Severn Trent Services employees in touch with the town’s emergency management office, which informed them that among the biggest needs in the town were for diapers, baby formula and electric generators. Within 24 hours, employees were delivering two generators, 1500 diapers, and several cases of baby formula. The generators were given to county officials, who took them to trailers that were used throughout the county to provide a mobile power source for homebound residents who rely on electrically powered medical devices. The other supplies were used to stock the relief distribution center that provided ice and food to local residents. Since that initial delivery, employees in Houston and Sugarland, Tx. have sent two more loads of diapers and baby formula to Coldspring.

According to Gary Mechler, regional vice president in Severn Trent Services’ Houston office, “The city of Houston weathered the storm pretty well, but many of the smaller towns in the southeastern part of the state weren’t so fortunate. As a company, we felt it was important to help our neighbors who were suffering.”

It was an easy decision for employees to adopt Coldspring because of the very recent experiences of their colleagues in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.

“The company has 75 employees working on the Plaquemines Parish project just outside of New Orleans,” Mechler said, “and that area was decimated by Hurricane Katrina. More than two-thirds of our employees lost their homes, so we joined with other Severn Trent offices to lend a hand with donations of clothing and other necessities. Many Louisiana employees are now staying temporarily in the homes of our Houston employees. Our corporate office also set up a fund for employees and their families affected by the storms and has collected $14,000 from our offices across the country.”

Fox 26’s “Adopt-A-Town” program has been so successful that, as of mid-October, all requests for assistance had been fulfilled. According to station representatives, the program is beginning to wind down.

For more information, email info@severntrentservices.com