I was deployed the afternoon after the explosion in West,
Texas. Along with our team’s national and technology efforts, some of us
are being field deployed to help manage the logistics around the significant
donation relief efforts associated with the tragedy.
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| Keith Thode, Aidmatrix COO with the Watts Family in Hillboro |
My first 18 hours in the region are really a matter of “Too
Much and Too Little” – initially starting efforts and assessing with our
partners at
Adventist Community Services (ACS). Working with some of the same
individuals from my initial Katrina deployment – the team set up a donation
station in Hillsboro, 15 miles north of West, Texas in the Hillsboro Shopping Center. The hope is, this
station can receive some of the donations coming down from the D/FW area, so
they will not clog up the efforts directly in West at the wrong time.
Then, I was off to the main relief campus in West.
There it was a matter of processing the massive outpouring of help that was
starting. By 10 pm there was more water on site than the town would
need for the entire response effort – and more was coming. The young people of
the town and neighboring cities were out in droves being the hands and feet of
the operation.
From this abundance of help, I am pivoting this morning to
focus on where there is a shortage – pet and livestock supplies. I’ll be
working with the local team leading that response briefly this morning.
- Keith Thode, Aidmatrix COO/CTO
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