Kerrville Host Lions Serve Kerr County

Following the historic 2025 flood in Kerr County, the Kerrville Host Lions Club (KHLC) has demonstrated once again that “We Serve.” In the early days after the flood, the scale of the national response made it difficult to know where or how to help. In any natural disaster there is the storm itself, then rescue operations, and then long-term recovery.

Fortunately, the KHLC had established a non-profit foundation under IRS Section 501(c) (3) two years earlier in 2023. When the flood made the national news, donations toward the flood started coming in from across the nation. These donations, large and small, came from people of all walks of life including Lions and Lions Clubs. Their generosity made it possible for our foundation to help so many people in Kerr County begin their recovery from the damage caused by the flood.

Almost immediately, our foundation began accepting applications for grants pertaining to the flood. This event required that our foundation board design and refine our policies regarding natural disasters and our application process. The board demonstrated outstanding commitment and due diligence to the task.

As of March 2026, the Kerrville Host Lions Club Foundation has awarded $545,836 in flood relief for Kerr County. A short list of the non-profit organizations benefitting from the foundation include: All Hands and Hearts, Annie’s Helping hands, Center Point Alliance for Progress, Comfort Volunteer Fire Department, Ingram Volunteer Fire Department, Kerrville Sunrise Lions Club Foundation, MHDD (a mental health counselling organization), Mo Ranch, Somebody Cares America, Summer Dreams, and The Outdoor Experience Foundation.

These organizations have been doing important work in the recovery of our community. Some are re-building homes, some are serving the public safety, and some are helping residents of Kerr County heal emotionally.

By the end of May 2026, we anticipate awarding more grants for an overall total amount of $595,710 in grants. Having done so, our foundation board will have completed their task and responsibility to spend all donated funds that were restricted for flood relief.

While granting flood relief money is significant, providing funding is not all we have done for our community. Our club has recorded over 5,284 service hours impacting 25,000 people. Here are a few examples of our service.

In the early days of the flood, a young San Antonio boy wanted to be sure that all Kerr County kids had shoes, specifically Croc shoes. His mother asked our club for help in distribution since we are located in Kerrville. That project turned into a partnership with the Crocs corporation. Our club distributed shoes to kids from the west end of the county to the east end and a little beyond. Our club mobilized to hand out almost 9,000 pairs of shoes for free to Kerr County kids. One of our members provided warehouse space; another member provided trucks and forklifts to pre-position the pallets of shoes at each location. In Comfort and in Center Point respectively, we partnered with the Comfort Lions Club and the Center Point Lions Club for distribution in their local schools.

In October, we partnered with Kerr Kids to host a “Pumpkin Patch of Positivity” which was a fall festival aimed at emotional healing for kids and their families in the county. This coincided with the LCI Week of Service for mental health.

In January, we partnered with the Salvation Army to package and distribute meal recipes with ingredients. We provided four different recipes packaged in ready-to-cook form. This project coincided with the LCI Week of Service for Hunger.

More recently, we adopted a two-mile section of Highway 27 and conducted our first litter cleanup on April 18th. We collected 26 bags of trash. This project coincides with the LCI Week of Service for environment.

So we have been definitely busy since July 2025 and are still going. The Kerrville Host Lions Club is now 74 members strong and growing. Our foundation and our service projects are, without question, relevant across our entire Kerr County community.