Houston Newsmakers for Aug. 26: Hurricane Harvey: 1 year later, mayor says more needs to be done

Mayor Turner says more must be done and more is on the way

HOUSTON – Celebrate the success of Harvey recovery, but understand that people are still suffering and more needs to be done. That is the sentiment of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, a guest on this week’s Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall.

The mayor said federal bureaucracy still has much of the needed funds on the way.

“The $1.4 billion for housing ... those dollars haven’t gotten here,” he said. “The additional approximately $1 billion-plus and more for infrastructure, those dollars have not yet gotten here.”

Turner said the Harvey Relief Fund is an example of residents helping each other until the major relief money arrives.

For information on the Harvey Relief Fund, click link.

Survey shows suffering continues

One year after Hurricane Harvey, 3 in 10 affected Gulf Coast residents say their lives remain disrupted. That is just one of the results of an exclusive survey done by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the Episcopal Health Foundation.

Elena Marks, president and CEO of Episcopal Health, said the study is the 2nd since the storm and will hopefully be used by policymakers to make the best decisions. The survey shows the health of the community is definitely worse since the Harvey experience.

”When those new and additional resources come, we want to make sure they’re deployed in the ways that people need them most,” she said. “And for the groups that need them most.”

Click link to see the full report

Foodbank rises to occasion during Hurricane Harvey

During and for several months after Hurricane Harvey, the Houston Food Bank was distributing three times its normal output of food to needy Houstonians, sometimes as much as 1 million pounds of food daily.

That takes a lot of collaboration, coordination and safety. Houston Food Bank President Brian Greene is a guest this week on Newsmakers, along with board member and BASF business director and Food Bank Board member Robert Sawchuk.

They talk about the success of the organization during Harvey and about BASF’s focus on safety that is a near perfect partnership.

Houston Newsmakers airs Sundays at 10:30 a.m.

More Information:

•    Mayor Sylvester Turner, City of Houston
•     https://bit.ly/2P12NqK  
•     Email:  Sylvester.turner@houstontx.gov 
•     Phone: 713-837-0311
•     Twitter: @SylvesterTurner

•   Elena Marks, J.D., M.P.H., President & CEO Episcopal Health Foundation 
•      https://bit.ly/2MHS0UV  
•     Email: emarks@episcopalhealth.org 
•     Phone: 832-807-2568
•     Twitter: @Health4Texas

•    Brian Greene, President, Houston Food Bank 
•     https://bit.ly/2BBRYJC  
•     Email:  info@houstonfoodbank.org 
•     Phone: 713-223-3700
•     Twitter: @HoustonFoodBank 

•    Robert Sawchuk, Board Member, Houston Food Bank, Business Dir. BASF Corp.
•     https://bit.ly/2BBRYJC 
     https://on.basf.com/2ifXndS 
•     Email:  info@houstonfoodbank.org 
•     Phone: 713-223-3700
•     Twitter: @HoustonFoodBank