Donations needed as hundreds of Harvey evacuees find shelter at Inks Lake State Park

Thousands of Harvey evacuees were finding shelter at parks across the lone star state including many in Central Texas. Hundreds of evacuees were told to go to Inks Lake State Park.

“Anybody that wants to bring tents, food, we don't need clothing, we got more clothing than they need, lawn chairs, ice chests, baby foods, diapers,” said Bubba Stahl, the Pastor for Kingsland First Baptist Church, which is one of five donation sites for Harvey evacuees at Inks Lake State Park. “This is a distribution point, bring it here and we will get it out there,” he said.

Hundreds were sent to the campground in the Hill Country after the category 4 hurricane hit. “They’re from Houston; they’re from Ingleside, Baytown, and Lockport. They’re from Aransas Pass all up and down where that hurricane hit really hard and of course the flooded areas. They showed up here at Inks Lake in their car, no food, no tent, just they were told to go to Inks Lake Park,” Pastor Stahl said.

Many more were on the way Thursday night, as Beaumont was being evacuated from the deadly storm, volunteers got word they could be sent their way.

“We brought paper towels, trash bags, baby clothes, food items, things like that,” said Gloria Watson who has worked on an ambulance for many years. She's seen people first hand in their worst of times, “I know what devastation is like and how much people appreciate anything that they can get.” It's why she along with many others needed to help. “They need all the help we can give them and I am just grateful that I have the resources that I can do that,” she said.

They are asking everyone not to just show up at the campground to help for privacy reasons of the evacuees. Instead, they need donations to replenish supplies as they run out and more evacuees come in, the littlest things can mean the most.

“One little boy came up to me and said ‘I've got a baseball glove, do you got a ball?’ So we found him a ball, and man he was a happy camper,” said Pastor Stahl.

Anything means a lot for those who may not even know what they have left, “They left not knowing if there would be anything and they still don't know if there's anything that they're going back to, so they don't know,” Pastor Stahl said.

If you do want to help, they are in need of more supplies. As of Thursday night First Baptist Church Kingsland posted on its Facebook page and said they were in need of tents, coolers (non-Styrofoam), air mattresses, OTS meds (Tylenol, Advil, Zyrtec, Milk of Mag, Tums, etc.). No clothes were needed except NEW packages of socks, underwear and bras. They need totes to store/sort/transport donations. They were not able to take any more refrigerated items, but would need eggs next week.

For more information you can also go to Inks Lake State Park Facebook page by clicking here.

Here's a list of locations where you can donate supplies.

Joseph's Pantry 706 N Phillips Ranch Rd, Granite Shoals, TX 78654 (830) 220-2344

La Care 507 Buchanan Dr, Burnet, TX 78611 (512) 756-4422

First Baptist Burnet 108 S Vanderveer St, Burnet, TX 78611 (512) 756-4481

First Baptist Kingsland 3435 Highway 1431, Kingsland, TX 78639 (325) 388-4507

Smoking for Jesus 1804 FM 2342, Kingsland, TX 78639

Cash donations for Gas/Food Cards: Hill Country Ministries 1005 Lacy Dr, Leander, TX 78641 (512) 259-0360