HOUSTON—In the days since Harvey dumped massive amounts of water onto Houston's terrain, organizations of every stripe and size have come together to contribute to this effort. In addition to the usual organizations such as the Red Cross and food banks, a Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund has been set up by the city for donor contributions, the Texas Diaper Bank is accepting baby items such as wipes and diapers, and other efforts are underway.

One of the organizations was Lee & Associates, which set out to help in a small way, with a target of raising $25,000. In less than six hours, the company reached that goal and then some, to the tune of nearly $70,000 at last count. The company set up a GoFundMe account to disperse money in the Houston neighborhoods that needed the most help with sheetrock, gloves, shovels, wheelbarrows and other items. The Lee & Associates─Houston office served as a central command center and boots on the ground facilitator as it went into staging mode with corporate housing, commercial space, containers, rental cars and any other resources needed.

“We went into it knowing that as the water was let out of the reservoirs, people had to get rescued and would need places to stay, rental cars and clothing for kids. We needed it quickly, within a few hours. The only thing faster than the water was the money pouring in as people emptied their piggybanks,” Michael Spears, president of the Lee & Associates─Houston office tells GlobeSt.com. “Houston is the biggest small town on the planet. We come together, no matter what race, man or woman, we stick together in this type of situation. We are going to build this thing back. We will come out stronger. The challenge that we are going to have moving forward, once the news cycle winds down, is this problem will be around for a while. Support will be needed in the months ahead as we rebuild and people need to get back on their feet.”