Volunteering with the Austin Disaster Relief Network | September 10, 2011

It was only a short week ago thousands of people were left homeless with literally nothing because of the Central Texas wildfires. I remember the drive home from Houston on TX 71, where I had to take a detour onto 290 because of the fire. The next day, headlines about the fire were everywhere. I knew I had to help, but I also had to get through my hectic week of school first. Luckily, my director got in touch with the Austin Disaster Relief Network and I signed up for the 3-6 p.m. shift at the Austaco Warehouse located off Texas Highway 360. 

When I first arrived at the warehouse with a couple friends to donate my time, I saw a sea of donations. Canned foods, snack bars, baby items, pallets upon pallets of water, and school supplies were stacked as far as the eye could see. My friends and I quickly got to work sorting out food into boxes that would feed a family of four for two to three days. After a short while, it didn’t even seem like work anymore. We had a great time getting to know the other volunteers and at the end of our shift a sense of accomplishment filled us up when we saw the pallets of boxes that we packaged ourselves. 

The Austin Disaster Relief Network NEEDS volunteers. If you live in the Austin area and want to donate your time or non-perishables, please visit their website below:

http://www.austindisasterreliefnetwork.org/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=75376&columnid=6357

Volunteering is such a wonderful experience and I encourage everyone to lend a hand. My friends and I were pretty tired after our shift, but that didn’t stop us from going to Pluckers and watching the Texas vs. BYU game! Did I mention we won? ;)