By Heather Collins
After seeing images of the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey in Houston, two Mercy Road churchgoers decided to help.
Less than 24 hours later, the two women were on their way to Texas with a trailer packed full of personal care items and other donations for hurricane victims.
Christina Huffines, founder of Dotted Line Divas, and Trisha Hodges, owner of Metro 317 Real Estate, left on their journey Sept. 3. Dotted Lie Divas is an extreme couponing nonprofit that assists Indianapolis-area families in need of personal care and hygiene products. It recently moved its pantry from the Carmel area to Union Chapel United Methodist Church in Indianapolis.
Huffines said helping the victims of Hurricane Harvey was something she needed to do. She said they assisted more than 500 affected families, walking door-to-door handing out items in the affected communities.
“We opened the trailer up, and we started passing out items to families,” Huffines said.
She said it was amazing to see how the devastation of Hurricane Harvey helped to bring the community together.
“It was amazing. I got more out of this trip than I was able to give,” Huffines said. “The love and tears and emotions of these families, and how excited they were. It was just awesome.”
As the founder of Dotted Line Divas, Huffines said she was able to gather all of the personal care items through couponing.
Huffine’s 14-year-old daughter, Savannah Eastes, also went to help out the victims of Hurricane Harvey. Eastes helped spread some joy throughout the devastated community by offering face painting and finger nail painting.
The group stayed with a friend in Houston. Huffines said she was happy to spread the mission of Dotted Line Divas in Texas.
“This is another way to show that we don’t just help one area. We help anyone in need, and we just do this by couponing and by the support of our supporters we’re able to do that,” Huffines said. “I help any family in need. It’s just not one little community. Everybody needs to brush their teeth. Everybody needs clean clothes.”
