As Texans struggle with freezing temperatures and now the aftermath as we begin to thaw, neighbors have been elevated to ‘Snow Angel’ status. We know there are countless angels to highlight in the Austin area who have been taking life-saving measures to rescue total strangers from troubles caused by the winter storm. Today, we’d like to highlight a few of our local heroes!
From our family {and so many more}, thank you to Tank Lopez, Chris Forton, Dan Moyer, Nathan Burch, Mike Dahlauser, Rob Mendieta, and Brandon Tiller, your names consistently came up and you have acted as servant leaders in the Austin community.
RELATED READING :: When Neighbors Become Your Village
Mike Dahlauser started the Lakeway/Bee Cave Facebook Group 12:31 prior to the great winter storm as a way to help out neighbors. From the group on Facebook – Need a hand putting together some furniture? We got you. Got an interview you’re nervous about and want someone to proof read your resume? Send it over! Need a jump? Gimme 10 minutes. There are certain things in life that you shouldn’t have to pay for. That’s what good neighbors are for. All I ask is that you give more than you take.
Here are a few of the things we heard and read about these snow angels!
“I’m such a thankful mama right now. Our entire family is so relieved. Thank you, Tank Lopez, for picking up my middle from the airport. We were really in a bind and you saved us. Our forever gratitude. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
“Honestly just knowing these guys were out there and could help us if we needed was the type of comfort I needed to get through this week. Seeing all the help they were consistently providing was heart warming to see in my feed. Extremely thankful and grateful!”
- We’ve got all of you all that have already graciously made donations to go towards whatever is need and I know a ton of you are waiting for the opportunity to do so! I know this because my inbox is full of all of you asking what you can do to help!
- We’ve got 15-20 drivers willing and able to make the deliveries.
- We’ve got restaurants opening up solely to make this happen.
- We’ve secured a water source in case they need it
- We’ve got Tank picking up Kamilla and her mom and getting them to their restaurant so they can do this for y’all
- We’ve got Scarlett Rewis Papas who I dragged out of bed this morning to make me a questionnaire and spreadsheet for me so we can keep this all straight.
- We’ve got Gretchen and her family going in to Craigo’s to literally help Andrew Rincon boil water, wash dishes, or help in the kitchen any way they can
“Tank picked up a woman, her dog and 2 cats, then drove to another area to pick up my son, his 2 cats and 2 boas (were freezing for days with no heat lamp) to get them to family with power.. That car was full of pets! He’s so awesome! and has a kind attitude.”
“Mike and Tank (and one other person) dropped off firewood for us when we ran out. That’s probably the least of what they’ve done ..”
“We had a busted water tank, flooded the attic and garage. Lowe’s in Lakeway was the only place that had a replacement tank! I reached out on the group, within minutes Dan Moyer offer to go to Lowe’s pick up our tank and deliver it to us in Steiner!! I’m so incredibly thankful for him and his buddy, braving the roads to help us get our house fixed!! I’ve been trying to pay it forward as much as possible. They may never know how grateful we are for their help!!”
“Ben Chapman came to my home yesterday to pick up water to take all the way to north central Austin to a young lady who had no water all week and was desperately needing drinking water. He then headed into central Austin to help someone else I believe.”
“Nathan Burch and Johnathan Paul both raced last night to a friend’s home. They had a pipe burst, house flooded, lost water, had no food, and the father slipped and was injured.”
“Tank came to rescue my son and I on Monday when our tire fell off our truck. He picked us up on Bee Cave rd and took us over to 360 and 2222. He was awesome and wouldn’t accept a penny for his help!”
“Nathan Burch has been gone for over 12+ hours a day helping people.
From elderly to nurses and pilots that need to get to work. He drove a pilot all the way to Dallas. Which took over 7hours one way.”
“He found people who could take water to my daughter in West Campus because she has been without water since Monday. FOREVER GRATEFUL!”
“Frank and Chris brought us firewood right after the deep freeze – when no one would drive our street – and we had busted pipes and no power. THEY ARE ANGELS”
“My husband Shey Ditto is a surgeon and went to work every single day. Last Friday when the snow started to fall, he got home at 8 pm, ate dinner, then went back to the hospital and worked until 6 am. While he’s been gone, my neighbors and new friends – like Christopher Forton – have been helping me out! Tim Stack, my next door neighbor, put mulch over and then shut off my water main when we had a leak and then later this week Chris brought us bottled water … everyone checking in and asking if we need anything is incredible. So blessed to be living in such a caring community!!”
“They brought me some fire wood as well. Power was off and on but was off for about 26 hours at one point and it got down to 40 degrees in my house at one point. That caused busted pipe and flooding. the firewood was a big help in getting that temp back up!”
“We’re so grateful to Christopher Forton for picking up and delivering space heaters to families without heat. It was so great to see his son Connor with him. What a great example for a Dad to show his son the value of service. Connor is such a nice young man and it was a delight to see such a young person helping his community. Thank you Chris and Connor.”
“Randy Bogdon took supplies to my mom. She’s been without water for 5 days and has been boiling ice and snow. Jason Rodriquez walked to her place to shut off her main water valve after her main broke. I’m just in awe of the kindness and unselfish acts of love and compassion.”
“Mercedes and Andy Hustad have been out the past 2 days delivering water and pizzas. They dropped off eggs and other essentials.”
“My sister-in-law was stuck at her condo with no power for 4+ days (electric stove, electric heat), running out of food, and running out of gas in her car (where she went to get warm and recharged her phone). I posted about her being stuck on Thursday morning on this page and within 5 minutes Tank called me and said he would get her and bring her to my home where we had power, heat, water, and food! He successfully rescued her (up a big hill) and safely delivered her to our home in Bee Cave. He wouldn’t take anything in return. This group has story after story just like this. It’s amazing!”
“Tamara peachey made sure we had firewood as well.”
servants heart.”
“Rob Mendieta and Brandon Tiller brought us firewood after we had to burn our bed frame to keep warm.”
“Nathan Burch and Brandon Tiller were both willing to go get my daughter from a friends house. We ended up getting one of her friends to help but it was a huge stress reliever to know I had it covered.“
“Out here in Sweetwater, we had a group of drivers including Daniel Bus, who made several runs to Target to pick up groceries and essentials for us out here! We are forever grateful!”
If you are wanting to help donate to the effort and help us provide meals for even more families and first responders… please continue to donate to Tank via Venmo @Tank-Lopez (last 4 digits are 1545) and he will coordinate with the other drivers and restaurants as they are on skeleton crews whipping out meals for us today. Thank you all! And please…don’t hesitate to fill out the form if you are in need of a meal today!
Thank you especially to area first responders, power crews, road crews, hospital staff and numerous other workers and volunteers who have put in countless hours this week! We know that there are more heroes that helped and stepped up to the plate to serve their fellow neighbors. If you have any honorary stories, please email [email protected]
Could anyone help my daughter , she’s 12 weeks pregnant and is struggling because of the recent storm . Where can they get food and water please message me