Community comes together: Individuals help elderly couple after seeing wind damages on Facebook

The roof of Charles Sherwood and Sherry Cryer of Kyle was damaged in a recent windstorm. After seeing the photo on the Hays Free Press Facebook site, the local community rallied to help the couple but little progress was made until Noel Rodriguez of Buda took the reins and made things happen. (Photo by Noel Rodriguez)

by KIM HILSENBECK

It all started with a photo. On February 25, the Hays Free Press posted a photo – the wind-damaged home of an older couple in east Kyle – on its Facebook.

Turns out they had no homeowners insurance. And it was cold outside.

Comments on Facebook from people like Doug Garner and Katie Moore got the ball rolling.

“Let us know if they need any AC Heat work, maybe we can donate some of our services,” Garner wrote.

Moore followed up with, “Please let us know how we can help.”

And so it went, comment after comment, pledging help, services, money, labor – whatever the couple needed. Even those going through hard times themselves offered their sweat and labor in lieu of cash donations.

But 23 posts later, still nothing was happening.

That’s when one poster, Noel Rodriguez, pulled everyone together and created a plan. He met with the couple, Charles (“Chuck”) Sherwood and Sherry Cryer, at their home, a trailer, talking with them for an hour. Sherwood, 82, is an Army veteran who served from 1951 to 1953 in San Antonio.

Another poster, Rick Rodriguez, reached out to Heroes Night Out, an organization that assists veterans, to see how they could help the couple.

Noel Rodriguez then created a Facebook page just for this project: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sherwood-Home-Project/274944379304034

He also talked with managers at Home Depot and Lowe’s, which both agreed to donate cash or materials for the project. Those details were not finalized at press time.

Sherwood, who was reluctant to accept the community’s help, said he and his wife “prefer to be givers, not takers.”

The couple donates what they can to organizations such as St. Jude’s Hospital and Disabled America Veterans, among others.

Sherwood tried to put the spotlight on Rodriguez.

“Noel Rodriguez has been out here three or four times,” Sherwood said. “Did you know that he is recovering from cancer?”

The workday is scheduled for Friday beginning at 8 a.m. Rodriguez said several professional carpenters are donating their time. He also has enough additional volunteers for the project but he would be grateful to anyone who is able to make a donation toward the materials.

He set up the donation acceptance through his church, Promised Land, in San Marcos.

https://giving.psmchurch.com/client/index.php

The Hays Free Press will be there on Friday to capture photos of the work.