Tommy
He knows he doesn’t have the answers — the community does.
When the buses stopped circling the city and the storm-weary passengers filed into the shelter, Tommy Holstien wanted to make sure they were treated like honored guests — not evacuees.
Tommy is the manager of grant development at BakerRipley, a well-established nonprofit based in Houston. After Hurricane Harvey hit, he put aside his grant paperwork and took on the management of a mass shelter for 7,500 area residents driven from their homes by Harvey.
Over the course of the 28 days the shelter was open, he arranged brisket barbecues, live concerts, phone-charging stations, and pet-friendly zones.
“The people that we served were our guests. They were not clients. They were not evacuees. This would be their home, and we were there to serve them,” he said.
This is the BakerRipley way. Hurricane or not.
“When we go into a community, we look to what’s right, the community’s strengths, who the leaders are, and what we good work we can support or build upon, rather than focusing on what we can fix,” Tommy said. “The people who have the answers are already in the community.”
This is a story from GlobalGiving’s “After the Storm” series.
