{"id":2088,"date":"2017-09-28T16:35:47","date_gmt":"2017-09-28T16:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=2088"},"modified":"2017-09-28T21:19:25","modified_gmt":"2017-09-28T21:19:25","slug":"tstc-in-waco-students-faculty-answer-call-to-provide-hurricane-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=2088","title":{"rendered":"TSTC in Waco Students, Faculty Answer Call to Provide Hurricane Help"},"content":{"rendered":"

(WACO) \u2013 Adam Pechacek saw it as a sign.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pechacek, 27, of West and a student at Texas State Technical College, said he and his girlfriend prayed as Hurricane Harvey made its destructive visit in late August to the Texas coast. They wanted to help the people affected, somehow.<\/span><\/p>\n

His neighbor, Bryce Grimes of Georgetown and a TSTC Welding Technology student, appeared shortly thereafter with the answer Pechacek was seeking.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Grimes) knocked on my door and asked if I wanted to go south,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although Grimes and Pechacek planned a relief trip to Port Aransas that was to start on Labor Day, a few days earlier two TSTC faculty members had been activated by the Texas Army National Guard. Angel Newhart, statewide Aerospace chair, was with troop members in Katy and in the Beaumont area while Aaron Gilbert, a fixed wing pilot instructor, also worked near Beaumont.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hurricane Harvey was the first Category 4 hurricane to make landfall in the Coastal Bend since Hurricane Carla landed in 1961 on the northwest part of Matagorda Island, according to The Weather Channel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Grimes, 25, said he wanted to help those affected by the hurricane in a direct way. He and Pechacek asked friends and neighbors for items to pack in Grimes\u2019 white 1990 GMC Suburban to take to Port Aransas. Grimes also gave some of his personal belongings to the effort.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe went down there with $60,\u201d Grimes said. \u201cThe last place we topped off the gas tank was in La Grange.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Grimes and Pechacek ended up at Cowboy Camp David in Port Aransas, a volunteer effort at feeding residents, first responders, law enforcement and workers cleaning up the city. Volunteers cooked donated food on stoves run off propane and generators.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had people from all over the state pulling together for one goal,\u201d Pechacek said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Grimes, who grew up in a military family, and Pechacek, a member of the U.S. Air Force for five years, said their military and survival knowledge helped them through the sunup-to-past-sundown work of feeding people.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou were finding a solution to everything,\u201d said Pechacek, a certificate major in Cyber Security and Digital Forensics Specialist.<\/span><\/p>\n

Grimes said leaving the camp on Sept. 8 was a hard decision to make. He and Pechacek consulted with their instructors to miss classes and catch up once they returned to Waco.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like four days wasn\u2019t enough,\u201d Grimes said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to leave.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Grimes and Pechacek said they want to return to the area later in the fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to still move forward,\u201d Grimes said. \u201cPeople said we will rebuild.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As Grimes and Pechacek worked in Port Aransas, Newhart was waist-deep in water alongside Guardsmen rescuing people in Katy and later in Orange and Jefferson counties. Newhart, a chaplain, was activated from Aug. 27 to Sept. 10.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe help the members have the opportunity for religious services,\u201d she said. \u201cSoldiers are people too and have the freedom of religion. We take care of the soldiers to make sure they have what they need spiritually and maintain their moral compass.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Newhart said it was the first time she had seen hurricane damage and its impact on people up close.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy faith gives me strength and that\u2019s what I depend on,\u201d she said. \u201cAs long as I have God, I\u2019m good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Newhart returned to her office in TSTC\u2019s Col. James T. Connally Aerospace Center on Sept. 11.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe first day it was relaxing,\u201d she said. \u201cYou get to take a breath. I found myself wanting to go out and take care of somebody. It\u2019s different when you are in the water praying with someone.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Newhart spent four years in the U.S. Army as an aerial intelligence specialist and later worked in counterintelligence. She joined the Texas Army National Guard in 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aaron Gilbert, 22, of Paradise, joined the Texas Army National Guard when he was in high school. He was activated for hurricane duty from Aug. 28 to Sept. 7 and was a driver on search and rescue missions. He saw vehicles floating in several feet of water.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe local communities were excited to see us,\u201d he said. \u201cThey donated a lot of food to us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Gilbert graduated in 2017 from TSTC with an Associate of Applied Science degree in Aircraft Pilot Training Technology. His career goal is to fly for a commercial airline.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a flight instructor is a lot of fun,\u201d Gilbert said. \u201cYou get to meet a lot of students from different places.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information on Texas State Technical College, go to tstc.edu.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(WACO) \u2013 Adam Pechacek saw it as a sign. Pechacek, 27, of West and a student at Texas State Technical College, said he and his girlfriend prayed as Hurricane Harvey made its destructive visit in late August to the Texas coast. They wanted to help the people affected, somehow. His neighbor, Bryce Grimes of Georgetown […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-waco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2091,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2088\/revisions\/2091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}