Spring Branch ISD Still Reaching Out to Displaced Gentry House Residents

A week after a wind-driven fire destroyed four buildings and nearly 50 apartment residences at Gentry House, Spring Branch ISD personnel continue to serve displaced residents.

While no residents were injured during the three-alarm blaze (four firefighters were treated for minor injuries), some 300 were left with no belongings nor a place to stay. Edgewood opened immediately that night, first as a place of refuge then later as a Red Cross-designated shelter.

The Red Cross is no longer at Edgewood, but the relief effort remains.

Volunteers from around the district Monday, Aug. 3, went through boxes of donated clothes in the Edgewood gym, sorting the clothes into stacks for men, women, boys and girls. The clothes, still being dropped off, come largely from individual community donors.

The clothing area will be open Aug. 4-6 and Aug. 10-12 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. for fire victims to “shop” for their families.

District volunteers included principals, assistant principals, teachers, counselors, students and parents, said Jerona Williams, a district administrator – even several teachers new to the district. Williams said that some teachers were coming by between workshops they were attending, just to help out when they could.

One corner of the gym on Monday was loaded with pallets of bottled water, diapers, personal supplies such as toothpaste and shampoo – donations that keep coming in the wake of last week’s fire.