-Boerne, Texas
In the vicinity of great tragedy there is often a creepy silence, as if a loud sound or sudden movement could reactivate the wrath of nature. That is the feeling in Boerne, Texas this week, about 25 minutes outside the flood zone of Kerr County where 82 souls died.
Within a few hours after the floods on Friday, Boerne (pronounced as Bernie), together with nearby cities such as Fredrickburg, and Welfare, stocks and arranged volunteers for their flooded neighbors, it is exactly what they do here.
I met Dick outside the Black Rifle Coffee Cafe in Main Street. He has retired, has lived in the city for 25 years and he told me, “Everyone feels it, if this does not make you sad, you are not human.”
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When I asked Dick if he was surprised by how aggressively the community reacted, he told me: “Not at all, it’s how we are”, adding “, did you know that this area was founded in the 19th century by German Freethinkers, they wanted to be free, and we still do it, so we take care of our own.”
Cock outside the Black Rifle Coffee Cafe Talk to Marcus
While we spoke under the unparalleled beauty of the same Texas airs that caused such a destruction last week, we saw and heard huge equipment on the back of flat beds, on our way to Kerr County.
Dick was not the first person to raise these roots of Hill Country for me, even in my plane, the woman next to me, who lives in the area, gave me a short history of the Freethinkers and their impact, and she was an immigrant from Columbia.
Later in the day I spoke with Kristen who lives in Fredericksburg and told me she knew that it was bad early on Friday and was initially irritated by the first lack of reporting, “then we heard about the camp that girls missed, it was a gut pot.”
By Saturday morning she and her friends made stocks for Comfort, TX, who had converted what a legendary local fireworks show should be in an emergency center.
This was also about when Rabbi Yosef Marrus of the Chabbad van Boerne not only started collecting stocks, but also to contact the head office of the organization in Brooklyn to start a national fundraising campaign.
“The Jewish community in the Hill Country is small, Marrus told me,” but we are proud of being here and had to help, we are all Americans. “
Clint Sanders, owner of Bunker Branding in Boerne, Texas.
Marrus emphasized me to find out what is specifically needed in the area, in one case a fire brigade was the same as food donations, but did not have enough refrigerators to save them, not long after, the Chabbad bought 2 refrigerators and had them delivered.
One of the central locations where Marrus and others have performed stocks is Bunker Branding in Boerne, owned by Clint Sanders and his wife Jenna, and it was on the activity on Monday morning.
“We do branding for many websites,” Chris told me, “so we had a way to get a word and we had to do something, and we have this warehouse space.”
He walked through the facility, various items that are staged around, trailers outside to be packaged, Sanders also told me that finding what is really needed, the key is: “We have a lot of donated clothing above, but they don’t need clothes now, perhaps next week.”
Impressed by the operation, I said to Sanders: “How do you and your wife know how to do all of this”, without a beat, smiled and said, “We don’t.”
That is really the most impressive part of all this, no ordinary person really knows what to do after 20 feet of water rises in 45 minutes and takes dozens of lives, but with the help of the state, local and federal authorities they learn at work at an incredible speed.
Bunker Branding in Boerne, Texas owned by Clint Sanders and his wife Jenna.
Perhaps, given the particularly terrible loss of life of so many children from this area, people need something to do, to stay busy.
On the few occasions that the loss of so many children emerged in my conversations, there would be a thousand meters in their eyes. How do you even understand?
Because I am here in Boerne and see the selfless efforts of these tough Texans, I trust that the German freethinkers who settled this country 175 years ago would be very proud of the communities they created today.
And as Americans we all have to be very proud of it.
