GALVESTON — Volunteers with the Galveston Islamic Center will spend the coming weeks dispensing hurricane supplies to the needy, but members of the organization say they will need some help.
Katie Huff lost everything in her home to Hurricane Ike’s storm surge, but the Galveston resident was busy Saturday handing out supplies across the street from the Islamic center.
“I came up here for some soap one day and they asked me if I could help,” Huff said. “I decided to help by volunteering.”
A vacant lot serves as the distribution point, which is across the street from the center at 921 Broadway.
Volunteer Sue Carrigg said the center normally doesn’t hand out supplies on the weekend. The main hours of distribution are from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, she said.
“We had shampoo and snacks, but come Monday we’ll have 20 pallets coming everyday of water, laundry soap and food,” Carrigg said.
Ahmed E. Ahmed is a center member and professor of experimental pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch.
The center suffered major flooding, and mold covered many of the walls below the waterline.
Ahmed said he is attempting to have someone on hand to treat minor wounds.
“I’m talking with my colleagues to start a mini health care center,” Ahmed said. “We need volunteers to dispense the food and help clean up the containers that are here.
“Our main goal is to target the needy. I pray that God will help us through this.”
For more information or to volunteer, call Ahmed at 281-804-8779 or Ayub Badat at 917-602-4450.
