Texas Volunteers Return After Second Flood Hits in a Year

Just as Texas Hill Country residents were catching their breath from last summer's devastating flood, the water came back.

Dondi Persyn and her team at Found On The Guadalupe River barely had time to process what was happening. They'd spent a year helping their community recover from the 2025 flood, and many were just starting to relax when the 2026 flood struck Kerrville.

"We were just getting through the one-year mark," Persyn said. "A lot of us were starting to let our shoulders down a bit."

But when neighbors needed help, these volunteers didn't hesitate. The same people who'd mucked out flooded homes and reunited families with precious belongings last year immediately went back to work.

In just the first week of recovery, the team addressed over 33 homes. They set up a distribution center at 213 West Schreiner Street in Kerrville, handing out hundreds of storage bins each day so people could salvage what mattered most.

The center operates on a simple principle: take what you need, donate what you can. Volunteers have even purchased an RV for displaced families and coordinated donated dumpsters and portable toilets throughout affected neighborhoods.

The Ripple Effect

What started as a small effort to return lost items after the 2025 flood has grown into a community lifeline. Churches, neighbors, and local businesses have stepped up with donations that keep the mission running.

The widespread damage means this recovery will require even more hands than last year. Persyn knows her team can't do it alone, but she's committed to filling the gaps wherever they appear.

Some neighborhoods have been completely decimated. When residents arrive at the distribution center, they share glimpses of their trauma: ceilings collapsed, homes flooded for the first time ever, lives upended twice in two years.

Many people are still in disbelief that they're facing another rebuild so soon. The emotional toll of starting over again weighs heavy on everyone.

But Persyn's message stays constant: "We're going to be here as long as the community needs us. That's what we do at Found. We just keep showing up and try to fill the need as much as possible."

The volunteers understand something powerful about resilience: it's not about never getting tired or discouraged, it's about showing up anyway when people need you most.