TYLER, Texas — Texas’ worst winter storm is almost in our rearview mirror. Before the harsh weather hit this week, an outreach group called, the Tyler Street Team, searched day and night for people without homes that they could get checked into a hotel and out of the storm’s path.
“We started going through the woods with the police and volunteers and we started checking the tent camps, and just going along the streets and finding the homeless,” Tyler Street Team member, Sarah Bulloch, said.
Since then, it’s been a rough week for them in the hotels with no electricity and bouts without water. But they’ve made the most of it.
Team organizer Callynth Finney said, “What I really want to mention is how helpful our guests have been. Some of them shovel, they mop floors throughout the day, we take out trash, we do everything together."
Their reservations are coming to an end and once the time is up, many have no clue where they are going to go.
“Well, you know, when you bring them here, and they're so happy, and they're getting their bellies filled three times a day, and they have people to talk to and for people to listen to them, immediately the heartache set in for me because I thought, ‘they're going to have to go back. They're going to go back to sleeping on the ground in the cold,’” Finney said.
She’s grateful to be able to give them an option to get back on their feet.
“We have program directors coming starting tomorrow to sort of do screenings with everybody that's interested to see if they're really serious," she said. "And if they are, they will leave straight from here to a new life, not on the street.”
East Texas has raised more than $25,000 for resources. Any money left over will fund an emergency care vehicle that will deliver supplies and give rides to whoever needs them 24/7.
