Mary looked across her backyard with a sense of hope. What she saw were her possessions and memories strewn across her lawn; much of it clustered into unsalvageable, water-logged piles covered with mud. Weeks earlier, Hurricane Harvey ripped through Rockport, destroying her town and the home she built more than three decades ago. Throughout what was left of her house were bits and pieces of her life that were barely recognizable and chaotically dispersed. But a symbol of hope remained fixed to the wall: a still-working clock, signifying that despite this tragedy, time didn’t stop, life would continue. Trying to grasp the extent of her loss, Mary smiled because she knew she wasn’t alone amid the tumult, H-E-B was there to help.
“H-E-B has done so much,” she said, holding back tears. “There’s no way I could’ve done this alone. No way.”
At Mary’s home, a team of about a dozen Partners helped her clear debris and pick up the pieces that were left. At times, the 35-year Partner looked on in dismay and confusion as she filled a single wheelbarrow with items she could save, among them were soggy family pictures, her kids’ trophies, sentimental trinkets, and a rubber mallet. For the Partners helping, getting sweaty and muddy for a day was the least they could do. And for many, they’ll continue to help until the job is done. “We’re in this together,” one Partner told Mary as she thanked everyone. “People like you give us inspiration.”
For Mary, who heads the floral department at the Rockport H-E-B, the road to rebuilding is far from done. Her home will need to be demolished. Her immediate family will help her rebuild and so will her family at H-E-B.
Taking a quick rest from the backbreaking labor, she looked at the front of her home, which is totally exposed.
She smiled, noticing a single aluminum blind dangling from a spot where there was once a living room window. At that moment, she allowed herself to find humor among the disorder.
“When we were cleaning up the other day,” she said with a deep laugh, “my son asked me, ‘Mom, do you want the blinds up or down.’”
