LOCAL Houston | The City Guide October 2017 | Page 58

The Giving Hub remained open until September 20. We began accepting donations and volunteers began pouring in. We had over 400 volunteers on call, and a set of drivers who made deliveries locally and across the state. Our volunteers came back again and again over those 20 days, saying that we were the most organized, efficient and welcoming place they had found to volunteer and contribute to our community. Their capacity to give, the want to help and the ability to rally in a second’s notice was awe-worthy and was all the gas we both needed to keep going. We are still amazed that we were able to put out a call on our social media platforms for immediate needs and Houstonians both near and far heard our call and filled those needs that same day. We sent truckload deliveries to Beaumont, Vidor, Orange, Liberty, Highlands, Katy, Missouri City, Dickinson, Conroe, Port Arthur, Cold Spring, Livingston, Wharton, Humble and the east, west, north and south far stretches of Houston. To date, we have delivered more than 100,000 packages (cases/ cartons) to more than 450 locations. Our volunteer staff was gra- ciously fed by KRAFTSMEN CAFE, EL REY, HEARSAY, OUI BANH MI, PI PIZZA, LES GIVRAL'S KAHVE, BROOKSTREET BBQ, TACO DELI and