Kenedy Service Crew Leader Ben Rosales felt the ache in his heart after the Texas Hill County floods. In the hours after television and social media showed the world horrific scenes of devastation and missing campers in the communities of Ingram and Hunt, Texas, Rosales knew he needed to do something.
“Right after everything happened, the very next day, I started seeing social media posts asking everyone to bring tools, trucks, chainsaws – anything would help – and make the trip to the Guadalupe River to help with the rescue and clean up effort,” Rosales said. “I knew in that moment that I wanted go.”
Rosales was on call that weekend. He knew that he could not drop everything and go. He joined local efforts to help raise funds and donate supplies. The City of Kenedy and the City of Runge assembled groups of people to deliver supplies to the area.
The Kenedy Service Center employees bought local food plates as part of a fundraiser for the effort. When Rosales picked up the plates, he knew that was the idea to help.
“I took (Kenedy DSS Scott Parks)’s plate back to the service center and pitched the idea of AEP Texas going to the area to cook for the volunteers. He immediately connected with our Corpus Christi MDS Tom Cardenas and things started moving.”
Rosales contacted the local fire department in Ingram, Texas – one of the cities on the Guadalupe River closest to the devastation. The agreed to head up on a Saturday. The Ingram fire chief said it was a blessing because they no volunteers on that day to help feed the people cleaning, searching, and mourning.
Rosales and some other employees loaded up the Kenedy Service Center barbecue pit, ready to cook. Service Mechanic-A Jason Rios joined the group.
“When we first arrived, it was late,” Rios said. “We slept in our trucks and woke up early to get started.”
Early for the group meant 4 a.m. They lit the fire and started cooking. The team cooked 320 pounds of chicken breasts, 100 pounds of whole chickens, 100 pounds of fajitas, and 100 pounds of sausage links to feed over five hundred people. A different scheduled group did not show up, so the AEP Texas team cooked an additional few hundred pounds of chicken. The team also coordinated donations to rice and other sides. They also hired a local screen printer back home to make some special t-shirts for the trip.
Rosales said the inclination to help is natural. He wanted to do something as soon as heard the need. Once he let the idea sit with him for a few days, it grew to be bigger and better with the help of his coworkers.
“People do this for us all the time when we’re on storms,” he said. “Communities and customers across the country we will never see again cook for us and welcome us. They just want to lend a helping hand. I knew that this was our time at AEP Texas to give back and help in any way we could.”