On November 1, 2017, volunteers from Gulf States Toyota and Toyota Motor North America joined teams from Americorps and relief organization SBP to begin rebuilding the home of Sylvia Garcia.
The Garcia family evacuated their home of three years after 12 hours in Hurricane Harvey’s flood waters.
“We realized that human beings have a breaking point and the faster we can rebuild their homes, the faster they can rebuild their lives and get back to normal,” said Reese May, national director of recovery for SBP.
“We hope to start construction on many, many more homes throughout Houston in the coming days.”
This is one of the first Houston homes that SBP has started rebuilding. Work is made possible by Toyota’s support for the non-profit’s deployment to Texas to help with recovery efforts after Hurricane Harvey.
Toyota’s support of SBP goes back nearly a decade and includes a recent donation of $1 million and 11 additional vehicles for Hurricane Harvey response. Additionally, Toyota has donated more than $6 million to SBP, as well as trained the organization on Toyota Production System.
Formed in St. Bernard Parish, La. after Hurricane Katrina, SBP has grown from a rebuilding organization to a team committed to doing everything possible to shrink the time between disaster and recovery. Each year, SBP works with more than 25,000 volunteers and 320 AmeriCorps members as it rebuilds homes and counsels non-profits, corporations and government entities as to best practices for a quicker recovery.
The Garcias expect to be back in their home before Christmas.
Gulf States Toyota volunteers included Brad Dupuis, Greg Wrobleske, Vonda Lee, Robert Howard, Louis Escorcia, Jess Maury and David Copeland
