PORT ARANSAS, Texas _ Donna Rosson is grateful for the pallets of water and diapers stacked all over this storm-shattered beach town.
But enough already.
Cash and volunteer muscle, particularly the kind that comes with earth-moving equipment or special skills, are what is needed here, said Rosson, who is coordinating donations and volunteers.
"When you have something like this, the second disaster after disaster is donations," said Rosson, noting that the town is running out of storage space.
She paused on the steps of the Port Aransas community center as the sun began to set. She didn't want to dissuade donors in Texas and nationwide from giving, but they have more pressing needs.
"We need volunteers," she said, as she stood in front of three wood pallets stacked high with Gatorade and bottled water.
The same message_ more hands, less stuff _ echoed all over Port Aransas. This tourist destination locate on Mustang Island east of Corpus Christi should be celebrating the end of the summer tourism season.
Instead, the town of 4,000 is trying to find homes for those now without and digging out from under acres of seaweed, cattails and wood from demolished or damaged homes.
Volunteers began coming into Port Aransas only Thursday, many people here said. That may be because the most popular way to get to the town, a ferry, stopped taking anyone but first responders and construction crews after the storm.
There's also a curfew imposed from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m.
Mayor Charles Bujan said Saturday he hoped to relax the curfew, pushing it back to midnight beginning Tuesday. But that's only if the ferries reopen to the public on that day.
Even so, volunteers have been turning up.
Among them were Matthew Pinkston and David Alexander, owners of Pyramid Construction and Excavating. The two loaded heavy equipment from their company 90 minutes away in Jim Wells County and trucked it to Port Aransas, where they drove up and down the narrow streets, helping to move debris free of charge.
"I've been coming here for years," Alexander said. "With the storm the way it hit, this little town, I knew they were going to be overlooked."
Alesia Dick of Flower Mound brought her family, including her husband, David, daughter Clara, a niece and some in-laws to help with the cleanup.
The family brought their motorcycles, an SUV and their recreational vehicle when they learned St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Port Aransas could use a hand.
"Our plan is to get the parking lot cleared so they can have Mass," said Dick, who was working to move debris with chainsaws_and sweat.
Joining them were Charles Valdez and Woodie Castanares, from San Antonio. The friends, who both have birthdays this week, usually celebrate by going out to bars. But this year, the two decided to drive to Port Aransas and offer some muscle.
"It's better than a party," Castanares said as he cut through felled trees in the church parking lot. "It'll last with you a lot longer than any party."
Mark Koziol, who was in Port Aransas to help his elderly mother and father-in-law, said he was struck by how he had not seen any trucks from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "When does FEMA get here?"
FEMA had a representative in Port Aransas but was not yet set up to take aid applications. Instead the agency was directing people to a FEMA website, even though there was no power in town and limited internet access.
The city government is also facing challenges. The police department was destroyed by flooding and had to relocate its 911 dispatch to the civic center. Fort Worth lent Port Aransas fire trucks to replace all its own, which were lost to the storm.
On Saturday, city inspectors fanned out to check on houses. On each, inspectors began placing colored placards in an attempt to assess habitability, giving them a rating of green (safe), yellow (some problems) or red (dangerous structural issues). Rick Adams, the city's emergency manager, said the inventory will help the city figure out how much temporary housing it will need.
Connie Beane, president and founder of Animal Friends of Port Aransas, spent Saturday distributing pet food to her neighbors. Her own home was destroyed by Harvey, she said, but "I have three sets of clothes left and my dogs are safe." All 17, plus four cats.
Beane voiced her appreciation to the many animal rescue groups who had contacted her from across the country.
"There's a trailer coming next week from New Jersey, and San Angelo sent us supplies," she said. "Right now we're looking for fosters and forever homes."
At Trinity By The Sea Episcopal Church's makeshift donation-distribution center, Cynthia Cibulka moved silently through the aisles of donated water, food and other supplies
By the time she left the church, tears had begun streaming down her face.
"I can't, I can't," she said, waving off questions about the condition of her home.
A few moments later, she collected herself and returned. "I think it will be better if I talk about it," she whispered, trying to do so out of earshot of her husband, David, who she said is having an even harder time facing what the storm wrought.
"We lost everything," she said.
