Blackfoot locals head to Texas to help Hurricane Harvey victims

Donations continue to pour in for victims of Hurricane Harvey. Some are making financial donations to reputable non-profits and others are coordinating relief efforts. Then there are Idahoans like Kinyon Martin and Jordyn Nebeker who are heading to Texas to help home owners save their homes from water damage.

Martin and his business partner Nebeker work for a company called Restore Rite, a storm restoration company in Blackfoot, Idaho. A crew will continue working in Blackfoot, while the two men help families in Texas.

Martin and Nebeker said they will fly to Texas on Thursday to get a better idea of what they are dealing with. After they have scoped out the area, they will bring a special crew down to help them work with insurance companies and contractors to get peoples homes repaired.

“We have a few contacts in Houston that we want to meet with to find out what we can do in helping these home owners get their homes dry and prevent any mold or secondary damage coming from just a home that sits in catastrophic water that is there,” commented Martin.

The Pocatello United Way said that while people have good intentions, untrained volunteers can sometimes cause more harm than good.

“It is difficult for relief efforts to absorb people coming in, a lot of times people are not trained and the conditions continue to be bad. So we are trying to avoid scenarios where rescuers are having to rescue other rescuers,” said Margaret Ganyo, the CEO of the Pocatello United Way.

Reporter Erin O’Shaughnessy asked the two men how they plan on avoiding getting in the way of first responders. Martin and Nebeker said they only plan on being in areas officials have deemed safe. And Nebeker said he plans on using his first responder experience while in Texas.

“As a local first responder, it is certainly engrained in me to go where the call is for duty. And help those in need. We cannot promise anything, we do not really know what we are getting into and that is much like my day job will say. But the beauty of it is, is that we do not really care. We are willing to do whatever it takes and the bottom line is we got a duty to act in this instance and that is what we are doing to do,” commented Nebeker.

If you are interested in volunteering or making a financial donation to help, check out the Red Cross or the United Way.