Former residents helping out as Harvey hits home

Terry Dickow
Posted 9/15/17

Schwartz, McKinley supporting student victims of Texas hurricane.

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Former residents helping out as Harvey hits home

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When Katie Schwartz took a job teaching in the Katy Independent School District (ISD) in Texas, she had education on her mind, not hurricanes.

That all changed when Harvey hit town.
Katie, daughter of Joe and Jill Schwartz of Rochelle, is a fourth grade teacher in the Katy ISD, which is adjacent to the west side of Houston.
Flooding affected numerous campuses in the district, and completely flooded Creech Elementary School, one of 40 elementary buildings in the district.
“It turned out that only one school in Katy ISD actually had terrible flooding and will not be up and running for a while,” Schwartz said of the outcome of the storm.
Creech was flooded, with the waters ruining supplies, books, furniture and everything in its path.
“The greatest need for this school as of now is student supplies and books. There are many more items I am sure they will need. We have not received a final list of what we could donate yet,” Schwartz said in an e-mail about the storm.
Nicole McKinley is also a former Rochelle resident. Her family lives in College Station, Texas, which is 80 miles northwest of Houston. Although College Station received more than 20 inches of rain, there was not the major flooding as in Houston.
McKinley knows Schwartz, in fact, her son Logan was a classmate of Katie’s from kindergarten through four years at Rochelle Township High School. Concerned, McKinley contacted her to be sure the teacher was safe during the storm. Afterward, she got to thinking of how to help with the recovery in Katy.
McKinley explained in an e-mail what happened next.

“We began an ongoing dialog about practical ways of assisting her district through her hometown connections with Rochelle, a place that knows only too keenly how compassion and outreach go a long way in restoring lives. Katie and I brainstormed and decided that the libraries would need to rebuild, as books become worthless when they are soaked.”
They decided a fund could be started for Rochelle residents to contribute to Schwartz’s district to rebuild those libraries.

Jill Schwartz was contacted and talked with banking officials at First State Bank, located on IL Route 38 in front of Sullivan’s Foods. They agreed to open a special account called the Katy ISD Library Fund.
But there is a catch. Since this is not a licensed charity, checks have to be made out to Jill Schwartz with Katy ISD Library Fund in the memo line of the check.
The funds collected locally will be sent to Katie and then turned over to the Katy ISD librarian, who will use that money to help rebuild the library at Creech School and at other schools damaged by the flooding.
“Being here while the hurricane came through was extremely frightening but also heartwarming to see everyone come together to help all the families that lost everything,” Katie Schwartz wrote.
“I was stuck at my friend’s house for four days while the water went higher and higher. It was a scary sight waking up to look out the front door and seeing a river, as well as seeing it at the back door. There were Coast Guard personnel everywhere, helicopters rescuing people, and boats going up and down the streets to save people.
Fortunately, although the water got very close to the door and some came in the front from waves, it never flooded the house! As we walked around the neighborhood when the water started to lower, it was devastating to see how many families were already tearing out their carpet and hardwood flooring. Yards started filling up quickly with debris.”
When she got back to her house she was surprised to see that it too had been spared by the flood, despite being next to a swollen creek.
And while the McKinley family was not affected by the flood, son Logan became part of the volunteer navy that went to Port Arthur to help rescue people and bring in supplies.

McKinley noted Logan didn’t hesitate to take his boat to Port Arthur.
“He learned this sense of community in Rochelle, where he observed people helping others regularly,” she noted.
More than 15,000 students and 2,000 staff members of Katy ISD were affected by the flooding. Sixteen buildings had some flooding in addition to Creech School. The administrative center also had 18 inches of water on the main floor.
Schools were scheduled to open this week, with students from Creech School being relocated to another site.
But it will take a while to rebuild the lives and the homes of the people affected by this storm.
Donations
People who want to donate can go to the First State Bank, make their check out to Jill Schwartz with Katy ISD Library Fund in the memo and the staff at the bank will deposit the funds in the special account.
The Schwartz family knows the importance of a school library as part of a good education. After all, Jill teaches at May School in Rochelle, Joe is superintendent of the Eswood Consolidated School District, and son Ben also teaches and coaches.
It will take a while for Texas to recover, and for the schools to get back to normal. Having funds to buy new books will help speed that recovery.