Lincoln woman returns home after second trip helping Kerrville flood victims
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Lincoln native Sydni Sherman pulled up to the curb of her hometown street on Monday after a 13-hour drive back from Kerrville, Texas.
Exhausted from the journey, Sherman said she was mainly feeling grateful that she was able to help the people devasted by the flash flooding in the state’s Hill Country.
This was Sherman’s second trip to Texas. Her first came when flash flooding devasted the area last summer.
She brought supplies such as baby wipes, body wash and toothpaste but when she arrived, distributing supplies wasn’t the only task she took on.
Sherman also spent time clearing debris from destroyed homes, being prepared for demolition.
“There’s not even words to describe what it’s like down there,” she said.
“One of the most recurring things I heard was, ‘We haven’t even recovered from last year’s flood yet’. Losing their cars, or place of work.”
Sherman said she did whatever job was needed and said that many times it felt like she was living out of her car.
“Tuesday morning, I dropped off the donations. Then, went and helped out with some muck-outs, which is getting some debris and stuff out of houses so they can demo and rebuild,” she said.
Compared to her first trip, Sherman said the loss of life this time around was less, but the flooding was more widespread.
She spent hours helping community members and others like herself, who traveled from out of state.
They worked on removing personal items from homes that she said were covered in black mold from the floods.
Sherman says the biggest need right now is to construct new places for families to rebuild their lives.
“They will need long term support in any capacity that it can be given, it’s really hard when the volunteers start to leave and go home,” she said.
Sherman says she would like to plan a third trip one day, but in the meantime, she’ll be keeping her Facebook fundraising page active.
If you would like to support her efforts to help Texans in need, you can visit her fundraising page here.
