Texans are offering a big helping hand to those displaced by Hurricane Harvey.
Among those stepping forward is a Duncanville business owner who knows first-hand what it’s like to have to pick up and leave.
Louis Rainey is a New Orleans native.
“We know exactly how it feels to have nothing,” he said. “That’s feeling that you never, never, ever want to feel.”
It was 12 years ago when Rainey had purchased an older home in New Orleans’ 9th Ward.
His wife and he had gutted the home with plans to renovate it.
They held a house warming party just as Hurricane Katrina churned toward the Louisiana coast.
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“We evacuated to Dallas, Texas, because my wife is from Dallas,” he said. “We left with one pair of pants, one pair of shorts, two t-shirts and that was it. Not knowing that we would never go back again.”
Their home was destroyed by the flood waters.
The family decided to stay in Dallas.
Rainey later opened up the restaurant on South Cedar Ridge Drive in Duncanville.
In 2015, Rainey said he held a ‘day of giving’ fundraiser at his restaurant to benefit those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Rainey intended to hold a similar event on Saturday, until Hurricane Harvey barreled through the Texas coast.
His plans changed.
“Everything people gave to us, we want to pay it forward and back to them,” he said.
The fundraiser went on, but the intended beneficiaries will be different.
Rainey says the food and clothes donated by customers who stopped by his restaurant on Saturday will be donated to Harvey survivors.
“If we’re able to give just a little bit, it’ll make the road a little bit easier for them,” he said.
Rainey said he will reach out to the American Red Cross and local shelters that have taken in people displaced from the Texas coast to hand over the donations collected on Saturday.
