Mid-County Kindness an overwhelming success

By David Ball
The Port Arthur News

BRIDGE CITY October 05, 2008 08:49 pm

— BRIDGE CITY — Leigh and Misty Phillips live on Roundbunch Road in Bridge City. The mother and daughter, along with Leigh’s husband have been trying to get flood damaged items out of their home since Hurricane Ike left two feet of floodwater in their home. They were hardly putting a dent into the effort, particularly since they began working again leaving precious little time to bring the debris to the roadside.
That was before a work crew from Channel 12 News came to their home Sunday as part of Mid-County Kindness.
“I thank the Lord for them coming out here,” Leigh said. “They’re a God-send; we really needed it,” Misty said.
Kevin Steele with the television station said they began the day at 9:30 a.m. and cleaned out three or four houses.
Hurricane Ike dealt a powerful storm surge to Bridge City. A more powerful surge of kindness was given to the city by its neighbors.
The communities of Nederland, Groves, Port Neches, and countless others came to storm-devastated Bridge City in a mammoth effort to help those who needed help with their homes following the Mid-County Madness football game.
Pastor Joe Worley of First Baptist Church of Groves thanked local media for getting the word out about the event in a “major way.”
“It was unbelievable. We had thousands show up. We had over 200 teams sign up. I thank the Lord,” he said.
Organizer Les Hayhurst said the response was overwhelming and he was “flabbergasted.” Some teams were signing up until midnight Saturday night. Some teams told him they were coming back next weekend to help.
Bridge City Mayor Kirk Roccaforte called his neighbors’ response as “overwhelming” and “a wonderful thing,” and he can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“Our citizens opened their homes and their hearts to them and we’re so appreciative. I just can’t put it into words,” Roccaforte said. “This will make a big difference. We’re now on the top of the hill and we’re going down to the other side. I’m grateful to the surrounding communities who put this together.
“It’s amazing and this is Southeast Texas at its finest. That’s why it’s so great to live here and why the hurricane is not going to drive me off.”
Bob Parks of Southside Baptist Church in Port Neches number one team said they spent all six hours at a home on Circle Drive, stripping it down so it would be ready to rebuild. Many of the teenage boys in the group said how much fun it was playing demolition crew and the house owners really appreciated their efforts.
Mayor Glenn Johnson of Port Neches said this was the right thing to do.
“We live in our political spheres, our political worlds and this shows us to throw down the boundaries in Southeast Texas and break down the barriers. This (Mid-County Kindness) touched a lot of lives. Some teams have 47 people on it. Some homeowners may be sick or elderly and are unable to touch their houses for whatever reason and these crews have been cleaning out and working diligently.”
In addition to the work crews helping their neighbors, several vendors in parking lots such as at the Market Basket in town were serving food and drink to passerbys.
For instance, Barbara Phillips with Valero said they have been serving links, hamburgers, ribs, boudain links, hot dogs, chips, water, power drinks and sodas all day. In fact, 2,500 links, 200 hot dogs, 40 pounds of ribs, 400 hamburgers and thousands of drinks were served.
“We’ve seen a steady stream of cars and it has gone really well. People are so touched by the gratitude in receiving a hot meal. One man said he’s been eating MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) for days,” Phillips said.
Valero employees and contractors have also been helping Bridge City residents dig out from Ike ever since it hit — three crews a day being sent out.
Mike Rohrbaugh, vice president of operations for Market Basket said their vendors such as Cajun Country Cookers of Beaumont, have partnered to support and assist Mid-County Kindness’ efforts with food and refreshments.
“We’re glad to be here. We served over 3,000 people today. We couldn’t had done this without them (Cajun Country Cookers),” he said.
Rohrbaugh added the Bridge City Market Basket is an empty shell presently and they will start over with the store as soon as possible.
Bruce Thompson, founder of Market Basket, said it’s a top priority with the company to rebuild the store and hope to have it completed in six months. He added because of the saltwater intrusion, refrigeration cases will have to be replaced and everything completely stripped down.
Insurance will be “a great help” according to Thompson, but it will not pay for everything.

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