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-Boerne, Texas
In the proximity of great tragedy there often lies an eerie stillness, as if any loud noise or sudden movement might trigger nature’s wrath again. Such is the feeling in Boerne, Texas this week, about 25 minutes outside of the Kerr County flood zone where 82 souls have perished.
Within hours of the flash floods on Friday, Boerne (pronounced like Bernie), along with nearby towns such as Fredrickburg, and Welfare were already assembling supplies and arranging volunteers for their flooded neighbors, it’s just what they do here.
I met Dick outside the Black Rifle Coffee cafe on Main Street. He’s retired, has lived in the town for 25 years and he told me, “Everybody feels it, if this doesn’t make you sad then you aren’t human.”
TEXAS FLOOD SURVIVORS SHARE HARROWING STORIES, SEARCH CONTINUES FOR THOSE STILL MISSING
When I asked Dick if he was surprised by how aggressively the community responded, he told me, “Not at all, it’s how we are,” adding, “Did you know this area was founded in the 19th century by German freethinkers, they wanted to be free, and we still do, so we take care of our own.”
Dick outside the Black Rifle Coffee cafe talking with Marcus
As we spoke beneath the unparalleled beauty of the same Texas skies that wrought such devastation last week we saw and heard massive equipment on the backs of flat beds, heading to Kerr County.
Dick wasn’t the first person to raise these Hill Country roots to me, even on my plane, the woman next to me, who lives in the area, gave me a short history of the freethinkers and their impact, and she was an immigrant from Columbia.
Later in the day I spoke with Kristen who lives in Fredericksburg and told me that she knew things looked bad early on Friday, and was annoyed at first by the initial lack of news coverage, “then we heard about the camp, that girls were missing, it was a gut punch.”
By Saturday morning she and her friends were bringing supplies to Comfort, TX which had turned what was supposed to be a legendary local fireworks show, into an emergency center.
This was also about when Rabbi Yosef Marrus of the Chabbad of Boerne, began not only collecting supplies, but contacting the organization’s HQ in Brooklyn to begin a national fundraising campaign.
“The Jewish community in the Hill Country is small, Marrus told me, “but we are proud to be here and had to help, we are all Americans.”

Clint Sanders, owner of Bunker Branding in Boerne, Texas.
Maybe, given the particularly horrible loss of life of so many children from this area, people need something to do, to stay busy.
On the couple occasions when the loss of so many kids came to the fore of my conversations, a thousand-yard stare would emerge in their eyes. How does one even comprehend?
Being here in Boerne, seeing the selfless efforts of these tough Texans, I trust that the German freethinkers who settled this land 175 years ago would be very proud today of the communities they created.
And as Americans, we should all be very proud of them, too.
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