Abilene community helps flood victims in ‘sweet’ ways

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – In Abilene, the community has found ‘sweet’ creative ways to help out the victims of the Kerrville flooding.

At Chisholm Court Assisted Living, they are turning up the heat and mixing things up for a bake sale supporting their Texas neighbors. Resident Katie Necessary said that since they could not physically go down to Kerrville, they still wanted to step up and help.

“We couldn’t go down there and help, so we could make some brownies and some bread and cupcakes,” Necessary said.

Diedra Wheeler, Director of Sales for the facility, said the sale fills up the seniors’ cup just like the victims.

“Our residents just felt terrible for all the things that were going on. And actually, one of our employees here lost two of her friends,” Wheeler said. “Abilene’s amazing at coming together and loving. But it’s hard, especially for the seniors. They were like, well, what can we do? You know, there’s not much they can do. So, it gives them a purpose bigger than just being a senior.”

The tragedy of those floods hitting close to home, not only behind the cause of baked goods, but also an ice-cold glass of lemonade. In Peak Christian Academy’s parking lot, cars made a pit stop for a refreshing drink.

Jenni Riley and her son Jake used to live in Kerrville. When the news broke, her son wanted to play a part in helping out.

“That has honestly been a tender part of this for us because on my Facebook feed, it’s full of people in Kerrville and how this tragedy affected them personally. I have a sweet friend who lost their granddaughter, and it’s just so real,” Riely said. “I was chatting with my kids as tenderly as I could, as a momma about what was going on in South Texas and the hill country, and my son asked, ‘What can we do? What should we do?”

The idea sparked to create a lemonade stand for the entire community to play a part in helping. Jake said he wanted to still have an impact miles away.

“I was born in Kerrville, and I feel like this is helping. This should help people who lost their homes and people that they love,” Jake said.

The bake sale will be at Chisholm Court Assisted Living on Wednesday, July 16, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., located at East North 10th Street and North Judge Ely Boulevard.