INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) – The devastation Erich Orrick saw last week in Rockport, Texas after Hurricane Harvey, he says, rivals anything he saw during 21 years of active combat duty in the United States Army.
"I've been in Fallujah and Ramadi (Iraq), and I've been in Somalia," said Orrick, a Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient. "That was worse than any of those places."
Orrick is the vice president of Wish For Our Heroes, a national military charity headquartered in Orrick's garage. He says 96 cents of every dollar the charity receives goes to its causes. He returned to Indianapolis Sunday night after almost a week in Texas.
"We normally help military families battling hardships, but when the hurricane happened, we kind of decided that we knew that we were going to be faster than any other charities that go down there," said Orrick. "We said, 'Hey! Let's go help Americans!' so we did."
Wish For Our Heroes concentrated relief efforts in Rockport, Texas, three hours southwest of Houston.
"We got reports back that the outlying communities of Houston were being forgotten," said Orrick, who did relief work for Hurricane Katrina as a soldier in 2005. "We sent a recon team down to see that and it was true. The VFW there in Rockport called us said, 'Hey! We need help here.'"
Orrick says five days passed after the storm before he saw an organized response in Rockport to the disaster from FEMA and large relief agencies. He feels they were not prepared with the initial relief supplies needed to deal with the emergency.
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Orrick and his group of volunteer relief workers found a disabled veteran they called "Rattlesnake Bob" trapped in his trailer three days after Hurricane Harvey.
"When we first met him, his trailer was on its side," said Orrick. "He was stuck inside because the door was on the ground side. We were like, 'Hey, what's going on? Are you safe in there?' He answered, ‘I need to get out of here. Can you all help me?' The last couple of days we were finding disabled veterans and we were spending a little bit more on those guys, buying them refrigerators and stuff, getting them back up and running, giving them generators. We were staying true to our core mission, but we were still helping everybody."
The Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Rockport was destroyed by Harvey, but Wish For Our Heroes planted an American flag in the rubble with a promise.
"We're going to rebuild that VFW," said Orrick. "Veterans are the heart and soul of the community. I brought that flag pole all the way from Indiana. When the veterans go places, it's a symbol of strength."
Proceeds from the "Whiskey & Wishes" fundraiser on September 29 in San Antonio will go toward rebuilding the Rockport VFW post. You can also donate at the Wish For Our Heroes website.
Orrick spent a total of six days buying an estimated $200,000 in supplies in San Antonio, then driving three hours to Rockport to distribute them.
"I think it was one of those once in a lifetime things where you have a chance to do the best that you can and you take care of the opportunity," said Orrick. "I saw a community that will survive with a little bit of help. When I was down there, I counted up. One day I bumped into eight states worth of people, so with a little bit of help, they'll be fine. I think they are well on their way. The day that I left I bumped into another group of volunteers from Indiana, from Muncie. They walked up to us as we were helping somebody and handed us cookies that said love from Indiana, so it was like now we can leave. More Hoosiers are here."