When Aaron Fells and members of the Double N Cowboy Church in Dublin, Texas learned off the need for feed for cattle in the Deweyville area following Tropical Storm Harvey’s flooding, they jumped to action.

Fells, a Port Arthur native and rancher in Dublin, is a cousin of Deweyville Independent School District Superintendent Keith Jones. He knew the need was dire. Catastrophic rainfall and flooding led to roads being washed out, rivers overflowing and cattle walking in the middle of Highway 12.

“There wasn’t a lot I could send to Harvey victims and I was checking in with Keith to see how it was going. He said they were pretty good on personal items but not on feed,” Fells said.

Fells told the folks at Cowboy Church that he was going to haul some hay down to Deweyville and people with trucks and trailers started volunteering to help.

The ride from Dublin to Deweyville takes about six hours under normal circumstances but this haul was far from normal. Due to debris on the roads there were stops for tire blow-outs, he said of the near 400-mile journey.

“There were about 20 people there when we arrived. They had been waiting on us. We had tried to land in Deweyville around 6 p.m. but there were tire blow-outs and we got there after 9 p.m.,” he said. “There were people with tractors, kids from the high school and people there to help unload. There were tears of joy.”

Crystal Jones, Keith Jones wife, said there was no feed to be had before Fells and his group came through.

“I was working at the distribution center at the high school and people were coming through asking if they could get some hay and feed,” Crystal Jones said.

Keith and Fells corresponded with each other and soon there was feed.

“They brought two pallets of feed, shavings to line cages with because people were having to put their animals in cages all over the place. They brought a trailer of square bales and 10 trailers of huge round bales,” she said. “They even helped unload it. People in Deweyville were exhausted, weary. This was just incredible. The next day there was just a little bit of feed left, no square bales, almost all of the shavings were gone and quite a few of the big, round bales were taken. That was the next day. It was a need and they were able to fill it — there wasn’t anybody (that could help).”

Jones called it an incredible blessing.

Many in the Deweyville area were just starting to recover from the March 2016 flooding of the Sabine River that led to mandatory evacuations after a week of heavy rain.

Fells is happy that he and his church could be part of this mission.

“It was truly amazing and a miracle how everyone pulled together to make this happen. One of the drivers, Michael Richardson, who hauled hay is handicapped from the waist down and spent over 30 hours in his truck to make this journey and drive his 18-wheeler hauler,” Fells said. “We had a few tire blow-outs along the way and the trip took so long we had to camp at Millcreek State Park in Jasper on the way back. It was a special trip as all of the items were donated by local ranchers and farmers. Most of the Cowboys in the Convoy had borrowed a trailer to take along the way.  It was truly a special event to participate in and be apart of.”

Fells wanted to give credit to some from Double N Cowboy Church who took part in the hay haul such as Cory Pipal for coordinating the group as Fells navigated slowly to Deweyville.

“It was such a wonderful blessing from a group of hard working people who pulled together to support fellow Texans,” he said.

There’s also Jimmy Holloman, a Double N preacher, who coordinated additional loads of hay to Nome Texas, and Orange. The church also sent a load of personal supplies to Orange.

“One of the guys mentioned a thought ‘In Darkness there is Light’ — we showed up at dark to a group of worn out, stressed out, people who lit up like stars when the supplies arrived,” he said.

John 1:5 – The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.