FB POST – UPDATE FROM ROSE CITY … The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (and how you can make a real impact here on the ground!). Hey guys — we’ve been working hard here in Rose City and want to thank everyone again for all the support. There will be another video soon showing how incredible the community revitalization center (crc) has come together in just a few short weeks. But you know me… always ready for some real talk. Here goes nothin:
*** THE GOOD: Immediate supplies have come in, we have containers and tents full of toiletries, food, water, fans, clothes etc. It’s been a HUGE success and I know people in Rose City are very grateful and appreciative.
*** THE BAD: 99% of homes here were completely under water because the dams were opened and flooded this town out. So we’re going on 7 weeks since the Hurricane and people’s home are still completely uninhabitable, leading to many having to sleep in tents outside their homes or in some cases, sleep in their destroyed empty homes. They have literally lost EVERY ITEM THEY OWN (not to mention the house itself completely gutted & infested with black mold).
*** THE UGLY: These folks are NOT getting the #RedCross money or #FEMA aid they need and DESERVE. When I say “aid” I’m referencing the 49 BILLION dollars in relief money that FEMA was given to help Texas. These residents are being denied assistance, denied loans etc. Sure, Some have been granted $500 here… or $1500 there… those stories are few and far between down here. But even that, it’s NOTHING when you think about having to rebuild your entire home & replace all your lost items. I get more into this in the video but basically it’s more of the same red tape and an exhaustive process (by design). FEMA has been on-site almost daily but all they do is hand out a 800 # for residents to call. Desperation has set in. We should not be letting families live like this here in America. It isn’t right and the funds ARE there. We need to continue to ADVOCATE for residents in towns like Rose City and demand answers, accountability and for exceptions to be made in this extremely dire circumstance. This is not right. Come down here and see for yourself. It’s unimaginable how any of these families – esp elderly – can rebuild with NO MONEY. Remember: the state opened the dams and flooded this town (and others)… It’s criminal to not help them after their entire life has been completely wiped out. And as far as the Red Cross goes… they’ve really outdone themselves this time. I’ve never witnessed such blatant corruption. It’s criminal how they’re using the suffering of these people to inflate their budgets yet deny these residents financial assistance and distract them with scraps worth of supplies. In fact, since my last video, they’ve actually come down to the worksite in Rose City. Not to provide the actual aid you’d expect, but instead parking their truck at the entrance as an advertisement (they bring photogs and take pics) and drop off a handful of buckets and ice (literally). I have it all documented… more on this part later. ?
*** ACTION PLAN: CAN-DO.ORG has been fortunate to have had boots on the ground the past 3+ weeks helping get the distribution site set up and funnel in containers, fork lifts, tents and supplies. HUGE response. Thank you to every company, org, church group and everyday people who watched that first video and stepped up in a HUGE way to help Rose City get immediate supplies in. As you know, everyone on our team is a local or a volunteer and no donation money has been used to sustain our teams on the ground here — no donation money has been used for travel, food, hotel or working here. That comes out of our own pocket. Because of that, and the huge response of IN-KIND (supplies & equipment) donations, we have not yet spent ANY of the money that has been donated through the website. We wanted to save what we had to try to make the biggest impact possible. After talking to residents, we are going to covert all the money raised to GIFT CARDS for residents in this town. They have lost EVERYTHING… so giving them gift cards with the option of getting whatever they need with it (a bed, sheetrock, clothes, a couch, pots/pans, a sink…) is a great option. … WHO IS BEST TO DECIDE WHAT THEY NEED MORE THAN THE PERSON DIRECTLY, RIGHT? For the sake of FULL TRANSPARENCY … We are posting our bank statement in the comment below. Outside of the in-kind donations, to date, we have raised $11,393 for Rose City, Texas. We appreciate that. It says a lot about the power of social media… BUT we’d love to make this # A LOT bigger before we buy those gift cards!
***CHALLENGE: Who do you know that would MATCH our current total? Lets step up for the residents in Rose City and make this total soar. 100% of the funds will be turned in to gift cards and we’ll document everything as per usual so you can see the results. #HurricaneHarvey #ContactFEMA #advocate #NoRedTape #Speakthetruth #accountability And HEY #TedCruz #GovAbbott #RickPerry #BrianBabin … we’re contacting you! Looking forward to speaking soon. ?

FULL TEXT FROM FB POST: Hey guys – so a cool thing happened last night I wanted to share with everybody — I got a call from a woman named Kerryanna who told us about her family member in Puerto Rico who was not going to make it without getting medication. She told us that Jose (a US military Vet) probably would not live through the night without his insulin and we were also told that he and his wife Debra (also a diabetic) haven’t had food or clean water since the hurricane – they’ve been drinking the rainwater off their roof!! Thanks to the quick action & help from Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Danielle Dellorto, Eddie Stutz and Michelle Rosa… we were able to get this life-saving medication to them within 3 hours of that phone call as well as food and water. A big shout out to all involved!! This also really puts things in perspective as far as the way disaster relief and recovery operations are failing in our country. We need to hold these agencies and NGOs who are in charge accountable because unfortunately this is not just happening in Puerto Rico… 7 weeks later here in Texas there are similar case like this happening all over. For what it’s worth: Jose & Debra live in a town about an hour outside of San Juan…the roads were clear and Michelle & Ed had no problem driving the supplies to them. #accountability #NoRedTape CAN-DO.ORG