Photo: Ready to Help – Well Aware volunteers helped distribute thousands of water filtration bags to Hurricane Harvey survivors along the Texas Gulf Coast.
How Toyota’s Mothers of Invention banded together to get the Texas Gulf Coast back on its feet after Hurricane Harvey
Thousands of miles separate Andrea Sreshta, Tricia Compas-Markman and Sarah Evans. But when Hurricane Harvey bore down on the Texas Gulf Coast last year, a shared bond brought them together.
All three are part of Toyota’s Mothers of Invention program, which provides grants to women contributing to society through innovation, entrepreneurship or invention.
Their backgrounds and expertise in disaster preparedness, coupled with the funding and support of Toyota, put them in unique positions to help Texas recover in the days, weeks and months following Harvey’s landfall.
“We’re based in San Francisco and, primarily, we’ve had an international focus for our product,” says Compas-Markman, inventor of DayOne Response – a water filtration bag that provides clean drinking water. “But when Harvey hit, we knew we had to respond. We got in touch with potential partners, like the Governor’s office. But then we thought of Sarah’s group, since we had the Mothers of Invention link.”
Evans is the founder and CEO of Well Aware, an Austin-based nonprofit that provides clean water systems. Well Aware usually helps communities in third world countries. But now, a water crisis was happening just a couple hundred miles away. When Compas-Markman called for help, Evans was thrilled to collaborate.
“When Harvey was hitting Texas, I was on the phone trying to figure out what we could do as a group of water experts” Evans says. “I emailed Tricia and said, ‘Hey… what can we do?’”
The two teamed up to ship, deliver and distribute more than 3,000 water filtration bags to people along the Gulf Coast. Teams of volunteers drove into affected communities, assessed the needs and trained families how to use the bags.
“In a hurricane, oftentimes your main water source has been compromised,” says Compas-Markman. “Your pipes may have busted, or the water system may have been taken out by the storm. Maybe your water isn’t safe to drink. So even though you’ve survived one disaster, now you’re facing another one.”
As thousands of Hurricane Harvey survivors dealt with water issues, some also faced lingering power outages. For another Toyota Mother of Invention, it hit close to home.
Andrea Sreshta is the inventor of LuminAID – lightweight, long-lasting, solar-charged lanterns and portable phone chargers. Sreshta grew up in Houston, and was […]
Full article: Girl Power | Toyota DriverSeat
More about Hurricane Harvey and Storm Damage:
- In Harvey’s wake, Congress advances legislation speeding Army Corps projects in Texas
- Private water wells in Texas test positive for contamination after Harvey
- Coastal wetlands can significantly reduce property damage due to hurricanes
- Houston area copes with flooding as Harvey delivers pounding rainfall
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