BULLARD, Texas — Severe weather season is on its way for East Texas only weeks after the winter storm hit the state last month.
Many stepped up to help their community as people experienced a loss of electricity and water.
Sam Smith, the CEO of the HandUp Network, says the City of Bullard noticed how its community rallied together and reached out to the nonprofit.
"In the Bullard situation, they saw a lot of the residents really stepping out, really tried to make an impact," Smith said. "Unfortunately, a lot of times those people then become victims themselves, and so the fire department has to take time to pull them out of the ditches and do all that. So we want to have them trained and prepared for next time."
Volunteers with the HandUp Network make up response teams across 37 counties in East Texas. Smith says the goal is to "help restore, stabilize and contain to rebuild" communities while working alongside first responders.
"So while they're [first responders] saving lives, we're organizing volunteers, we're putting teams together to go out and do everything from, you know, maybe it's tarping roofs, to providing care to victims, to basically trying to do everything we can to assist and let the first responders do what they're trained to do," he said. That is actually saving lives."
The HandUp Network works with the Texas Division of Emergency Management and coordinators for different counties. Smith says when there's a disaster, the nonprofit is contacted and instructed with how to assist.
"You're much more effective if you actually have leadership, if you have communication channels," he said. "So if someone needs a generator, you have the channel to actually secure that generator, get it out to them safely and things of that nature.”
Smith says so far several Bullard community members have signed up for response team training, but the nonprofit is always in need of more.
"We're in Tornado Alley, we get very high winds, we have a lot of hail damage, we get a lot of flash flooding, there's a lot of issues," Smith said. "And so to be honest with you, we're just ramping up."
Volunteers undergo about 40 hours of training which includes learning CPR and how to safely and effectively respond to situations.
To learn more about the HandUp Network, click here.