136 lives lost, homes destroyed and thousands left with nothing: that’s the legacy of the July flooding disaster in Texas’s central Hill Country. In an effort to help, Signarama San Antonio owners, Matt and Kerry Mattingly, printed a couple of hundred ‘yard’ signs, featuring a QR code that pointed donations to the Community Foundation Texas Hill Country. 6,000 signs and USD$60m later and the emerging legacy is one of community strength and support, powered by simple sign printing.
The July floods in Texas’s central Hill Country had a devastating impact on the local communities
Kerry recalls: “We initially printed 200 signs and delivered 100 each to the two local suburbs. 200 signs soon turned into 500, then 1,000 and it got to the point where we were just printing theses signs all day and night, with our own money.”
“Not just the two of us, but our equipment, couldn’t keep up with the need, so we reached out for help via the Signarama Facebook group and the
Over 6000 of these 'yard' signs directing donations to Texas Hill Community Foundation have now been printed and distributed far and wide response was immediate and amazing.”
“As of today, there are 18 other Signarama owners involved, supplying everything from the signs to the H-frames and we’ve just closed in on 6,000 signs, distributed through 15 different locations and so far helping to raise around USD$60 million in donations.”
The outreach and demand for the signs has been purely word of mouth, with people seeing them in other’s yards, and calling wanting to know where they can get one of their own, spreading the support far beyond what Kerry and Matt ever imagined was possible.
Kerry adds: “Our biggest hope is that when the government support has stopped and everybody goes back to their ‘normal’ daily lives, these signs will still be in people's yards a year from now, because we know that there will still be people here needing help for a long time to come.”
For anyone interested in donating to the relief efforts, the QR code on the sign will take you directly to the Community Foundation Texas Hill Country website; and for any printers looking to help, you can contact Kerry and Matt at Signarama San Antonio directly via +(0) 210-476-5115.
