KERRVILLE – Alyssa Chavez, 28, and her 6-year old daughter, Ellie, have been working to keep the Hill Country’s spark in-tact.
Chavez’s nonprofit, Kerr Kids, has helped organize games and events for Kerr County families impacted by the July 4 floods.
“Everything that we used to do for free is gone,” Chavez said. “The river is gone. Our playgrounds were wiped away. You can’t go biking on our trails.”
Chavez said the splash pad at Louise Hayes Park was also washed away.
“It’s summer,” Chavez said. “What are we supposed to do? It’s so hot.”
Amid so much devastation and uncertainty, Chavez took it upon herself to give the kids of Kerr County a little bit of hope.
“I posted on Facebook, ‘Hey, does anyone have a space that we could host these little kid get-togethers,’” Chavez said. “And it just blew up.”
Chavez said her friend, Kayla Smith, offered up her dance studio to become a safe haven for children and families to play.
“We really just encourage active play, so running and jumping,” Chavez said. “We’ll set up obstacle courses.”
Smith was not the only one to offer up a space for kids to play.
Chavez said Cheri Shine, the owner of The Fancy Finch Tea Cottage, lost her property and her car in the floods. Yet, she opened her doors Friday to hold a tea party.
“For her to offer something, her space to us and to these kids is just,” Chavez said, “it’s a reflection of who our community is.”
The event was complete with homemade stuffed animals from San Antonio, letters of encouragement and goodie bags from Dallas, dolls from the Appalachian Mountain region and blankets from Connecticut.
“It was so fun,” Ellie said. “I had blueberry tea with ice in it and I had mango, and then I had vanilla chai.”
Chavez said the events for kids and their parents aren’t ending anytime soon.
“We actually just saw that quite a few of our Amazon wish list items were purchased,” Chavez said, “one of them being a bounce house which we’re so excited about.”
Kerr Kids is hosting a build-your-own trucker hat event with mocktails for teens at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. More information on upcoming events and how to support can be found on the nonprofit’s facebook.
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