It all started with nameless victims in need in Texas, and now people 1,300 miles away in Joppatowne are dropping off supplies by the truckload at Sapore's Restaurant.
"You bless those who don't have,” said Charlotte Dorman, who stopped by to write a check. “I don't have much, but they don't have nothing."
Donors here can now assign faces to the disaster. The Walter family who are transplanted Marylanders who found a home in Texas only to see it flood.
"We've gotten some calls saying even if we tried to leave tomorrow that there's no way we could get back in because the highway's closed,” said Summer Walter, “So we have no idea of when exactly we can get back in."
RELATED: Texas family evacuates to Joppatowne
Plans to return there and for their young daughters to start school outside Beaumont have now been placed on hold.
"Our school took on a lot more water than originally they had thought,” said Summer. “Some aerial footage you can only see the roof of the school."
"I know. It's just hearing about the school,” added her husband, Jason, as he fought back emotion. “You know this week was supposed to be the first week of school and a lot of the children... they came in the week before. So for most, if not all the children, their school supplies were in the lockers even those are ruined now."
The extra few days they must wait have given their old neighborhood time to rally around them, collecting water and cleaning supplies not only for them, but also for their neighbors in need.
"Before you know it, we have Margaret Steen from Steen Realty. She's paying for the trailer,” said Karen Blackburn, the owner of Sapore’s. “Then we have the Girl Scouts and the leaders coming to help pack things tonight. We already in one day... we have all this."
All this to support a family two years removed from their roots in Maryland that will now face all that awaits them in the aftermath of Harvey.
"It's always been a very tight, small, close community and it was a blessing growing up here,” said Jason Walter. “And it's wonderful to know it's still that type of town that wants to help a small town where we live now, and that's what most of the people are saying, 'We know what we're donating is going to real people that are in need. So it has... it's been a real blessing."
Sapore's Restaurant will continue collecting items through Tuesday, and the owners say if the Walter family's Uhaul can't carry it all, they'll find another truck to send down a separate load.
