Cleaning supply donations needed for Hill Country flood victims

On the corner of East Farm Market Road 1431 and Highland Loop in Kingsland sits a white building with bright neon signs saying donations here. Once the city was hit with catastrophic flooding women of Hill Country Auxiliary set up an emergency donation center.

Cindy Miller, President of the organization said since then people from all over have dropped off donations. Anything from cleaning supplies to dog food. Flood victims and neighbors of flood victims are dropping by to provide for one another.

“They walk in and say they need this in and that and we load them up and tell them don't be bashful please come get it that's what it's here for," Miller said.

The main items they need are cleaning supplies and tools. Miller said over the next couple of days and weeks people will be cleaning up houses. They’re open from 8 a.m. till 8 p.m. every day free of charge.

Several Churches in the area are also accepting donations for clothes and food.

Multi-Agencies Resource Center (MARC) was set up Wednesday and Thursday at the Kingsland Community Center for flood victims. Kay Cartwright was one of the several hundred registering their homes for disaster relief.

Cartwright lived in a home by the Colorado River for 18 years. At first it was a vacation home and then over the years it became a place for her grandkids to spend their summers by the water.

On October 16th, flood waters poured into Cartwright's tiny Kingsland neighborhood, seeping into her home, with her trapped inside. "I actually called 911 and they could not get out to me because they hadn't delivered the boats at that time," Cartwright said.

Cartwright called her son-in-law who could only wait a couple of houses down because of the rising water. He and a friend attached a rope to his car and swam out to her.

“The current was so strong I couldn’t stand up couldn’t move and he said we have to find something for you to hold onto,” said Cartwright. "I have a great faith in God and that's what kept me that's what kept the people I'm coming to get me safe when he didn't look like there's going to be anyway out."

Then miraculously a blue surfboard floated by, she grabbed ahold and was pulled to safety. She stared out to the large pile that stood outside her lawn, mattresses, furniture, a high chair all of her life’s belongings with despair. Her late husband passed and the remnants buried in the mess was everything they shared.

“He’ll be gone two years next week this is everything that we collected everything that we had so it’s my life it’s everything that we brought from Houston and everything that we’ve collected all of our lives and it’s just thrown out like trash it’s hard,” Cartwright said. "But we’ll rebuild, start again move forward, right here and make it a happy place again."

Hill Country Auxiliary Donation List based off of community needs