April 12, 2019 | KIII-TV
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A family in Aransas Pass was able to move into their new home Friday thanks to a group of disaster recovery organizations.
The Fuentes family now has the keys to their re-built home after it was hit hard by Hurricane Harvey. It was all made possible thanks to the Coastal Bend Disaster Recovery Group, Mennonite Disaster Services, Catholic Charities and the Coastal Bend Food Bank.
“I just want to say thank you. Thank you to everyone,” Rocio Fuentes said. “I can’t believe we stuck this out and we got a good home back. Thank you.”
ARPIL 12, 2019 [ARANSAS PASS, TX] – The Fuentes Family of Aransas Pass received the keys to their brand-new, rebuilt home during a home dedication ceremony. The celebration was made possible through the combined efforts of the Coastal Bend Disaster Recovery Group (CBDRG), Catholic Charities, Mennonite Disaster Services (MDS) and the Coastal Bend Food Bank.
Santiago and Rocio Fuentes, along with their three children, Brisa, Josue and Alejandro, lived in their home for 15 years before Hurricane Harvey hit the Coastal Bend. The family was forced to relocate and stay with family for several months following the storm. With such limited space, Santiago built a small house (8-foot by 10-foot) on his family’s property until they could rebuild their original home in Aransas Pass. This small house forced the family to separate from their oldest child until they received proper assistance. Their Aransas Pass home had such extensive damage, it had to be demolished. A local church volunteered for the demolition and Catholic Charities stepped in to provide funding for their temporary home along with presenting their case to the Unmet Needs Table, a coalition of disaster recovery organizations, for assistance. After today, the family is able to move back home and move towards a new sense of normalcy.
“We just want to give thanks to the Lord for blessing us with this home,” shared Rocio. “We want to say thank you to everyone at Catholic Charities and to the Mennonites for working so hard on our home. We still can’t believe it. We get to say this is our home and our family will be together again.”
Catholic Charities and CBDRG partnered for the case management of the home. MDS and CBDRG combined to fund the rebuilding project. MDS provided the volunteers who built the home. Additionally, the Coastal Bend Food Bank provided perishable and non-perishable food items to welcome the Fuentes family back home.
This is the 22nd home rebuilt by CBDRG and their partners. There are currently 20 additional rebuilds under construction and four manufactured homes in the process of installation. In addition to the 22 rebuilt homes, CBDRG and their partners have replaced 42 manufactured homes and completed 127 repairs to homes in the Coastal Bend region. Warren Phipps, executive director of CBDRG, says their mission is to stay focused on bringing families back home, keeping the community together and build resiliency in the Coastal Bend.
CBDRG, in partnership with several other non-profits, have completed 125 major home reconstruction projects thus far and is continuing to work on another 59 on-going projects All of this is possible thanks to the generous donors and hardworking volunteers. CBDRG continues to seek volunteers who range from skilled-laborers to general help. To learn more about the CBDRG and to fill open volunteer positions, visit www.coastalbenddrg.org/volunteer.