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When a deadly explosion in the Arctic hit Texas, Kenna Titus, a law student in Austin, panicked wondering whether she and her partner would be able to keep themselves and their dog warm and whether friends and neighbors would have what they needed.
Then came the torrent of suffering. An apartment complex for the elderly has run out of water for days, heating centers closed because of power and water cuts and child cancer patients fell ill in a hospital, desperate for food.
“Wherever I go, I only see people who have failed completely,” said Titus, adding to widespread criticism of Texas elected officials caught in the storm. “They were not prepared. They were not told to be prepared. There was no way for them to prepare. “
On Wednesday and Thursday, Titus collected online donations from his neighbors, risked slippery and icy roads to transport soups, muffins and tacos to the local children’s hospital and distributed croissants, cups of fruit and water to people in a cold weather shelter full to capacity.
“This shouldn’t be my job, and my neighbors’ job, running around, trying to find bottled water to give to children in a cancer ward,” she said. “I am happy to do this and my neighbors are happy to do this, but it is just ridiculous.”
While millions of Texans were left without safe shelter, clean water or food, good Samaritans and mutual aid groups supported by a national demonstration of support tried to fill the vacuum left by officials who hampered emergency management of the record storm.
“It is not impressive to see people in need,” said Zach Price, who also withstood the storm in Austin, “but to see their needs not being met in such adverse circumstances. I mean, I think you have to be insensitive to not be surprised at all, you know? It is shocking to see, even if it is not surprising. “
After Price learned that his alma mater, the University of Texas, was still charging students eat in your cafeterias, he offered to cover the cost of some meals on twitter.
More donors began to contribute, creating an improvised mutual aid fund that gave students $ 10 or $ 20 and supported other needy Texans. When Price lost power and cell phone data, he handed his Venmo and Twitter accounts to a friend so that the urgent cash flow could continue.
“I am very happy to have helped people,” he said. But a 23-year-old with a Twitter account becoming the main source of food for some Austinites? “This is a tremendous problem.”
In San Antonio, where Trinity Mutual Aid students raised more than $ 67,000 in two days, key organizers have been distributing $ 150 safety net payments.
“It is incredibly difficult and morally draining to try to make decisions about who deserves funds and who does not, because it is very evident that all these people deserve help that the government is not providing,” said Rachel Kaufman, organizer with the collective.
When local authorities received a call from a family of six – including a diabetic child – who was without food, Kaufman intervened, sending relief to overdue bills and promising to deliver groceries as soon as it was safe to drive. She heard someone from the county commissioner’s office enter her information into the system so they could send people to her. The city would not help.
“We have county employees who are not able to support their community, so they are sending to a group of 20-year-olds who are doing more for the community than they are now,” said Kaufman.
In an ideal world, the government would cover the needs of its citizens and mutual aid would take on a healthier form, said Houston organizer Christina Tan: “No, please send us $ 100 because someone is dying of cold” .
At least 10 people died of hypothermia in Harris County, Houston, while hundreds more suffered carbon monoxide poisoning trying to escape the bone-chilling cold in homes without electricity.
“I wish it didn’t have to be that way and kind of out of necessity,” said Tan.
After raising more than $ 235,000 through a GoFundMe campaign, his Mutual Aid Houston team planned to distribute two waves of direct funds: one to meet immediate needs, such as food and heat sources, another for long-term costs, like burst pipes, high electricity bills and medical bills resulting from the crisis.
They were already receiving an overwhelming number of calls on Thursday, but they only heard from Houston with internet access, a phone signal and power. Tan hoped there was much more to come.
Susana Edith, founder of Lucha Dallas, started trying to collect tents, backpacks, toiletries for travel, hygiene and feminine products, non-perishables, water, clothes and shoes for neighbors who would soon leave hotels and shelters.
“We are trying to start preparing for what is going to happen after the snow melts and, like, these homeless people go back out into the street,” she said. “Many of them, their things have been stolen or swept and thrown away.”
Temperatures are finally rising across the state and after days of impassable roads, closed businesses and empty supermarkets, conditions are slowly returning to normal. However, for many whose worlds have been turned upside down, the crisis is far from over.
“The concern comes a month from now, when people are trying to fix their plumbing, when they are still behind on the bills for those incidents, when we are still out of water,” said Kaufman.
“So, when will people stop donating?”