Around Town: Cowboys Care

By Lindsay Sasson, Wyoming High School Senior

It was a cold and rainy night on Friday, September 1. I was standing outside of Wyoming’s football stadium in the rain with several of my tennis teammates, collecting money and supplies to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey that hit southeast Texas.  Yet, I knew that this rain was nothing compared to what the people of Texas were suffering through.

The Wyoming High School boys’ soccer team and girls’ tennis team delivered the collected supplies to Matthew 25: Ministries to benefit victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Reports and pictures of damage from the flooding have been heartbreaking. The devastation was massive, with cars crushed by uprooted trees, telephone poles snapped like twigs, animals stranded, and homes abandoned. Yet, in the midst of the destruction, there have also been images of people helping: rescuing, carrying, and embracing each other. I felt compelled to help in some way, too. 

The Wyoming High School girls’ tennis team created Cowboys Care to collect supplies for victims of Hurricane Harvey. Left to right: Peyton, Emily, Jenny, Kavya, and Lindsay.

I reached out to Wyoming’s Athletic Director, Jan Wilking, to ask about rallying my teammates on the high school tennis team to collect money and supplies at the gate of the football game. She was enthusiastically supportive and helped spread the word to Wyoming families who were part of the athletic program. Principal Whitely then sent an additional email to Wyoming High School (WHS) families. I was amazed and excited to watch it quickly grow into a community effort.  

Our tennis coach, Tami Prophater, lent a much-needed canopy for rain protection.  Becky Abbs, my adviser for Project LEAD (the service organization at WHS) eagerly lent us bins to collect the items. Lads and Lassies Community Preschool reached out to its families to collect donations with us. 

Poster Solutions, a local business, donated a waterproof banner that Project LEAD will be able to use for years to come. My teammates – Kavya Iyer, Jenny Lewis, Emily Mayer, and Peyton Osha – and I accepted the generosity of families from throughout the community. George Criddle, a sophomore on Wyoming’s soccer team, joined and helped us.

Multiple minivans were filled with supplies from the Cowboys Care collection.

The community effort continued into the next morning. When my teammates and I showed up at Matthew 25: Ministries to drop off the items, the Wyoming High School boys’ soccer teams were there with their coach to unload our community’s donations.  We immediately decided to stay and help out with unloading and sorting donations as well. Then, a few days later, a Wyoming parent emailed to help us secure a matching gift from GE.  

Thanks to the generosity of the community, we were able to deliver hundreds of pounds of diapers, baby wipes, cleaning supplies, personal care and hygiene items, non-perishable food, bottled water, and more than $1,000 in financial donations to Matthew 25: Ministries to benefit victims of Hurricane Harvey. I called the effort “Cowboys Care”, and I am grateful to live in such a compassionate and generous community. When we work together, we can make a positive difference not just in our community but wherever there is a need.  

The Lads and Lassies Preschool added to the Wyoming High School Cowboys Care collection. The families of a Lads and Lassies collected diapers and baby wipes for flood victims, “We collected enough to fill a minivan!” 

Lads and Lassies Preschool collected supplies for victims of Hurricane Harvey.