When the storm hit, the bowling alley opened up

Published 10:15 pm Tuesday, September 19, 2017

By Josh Bergeron
The Port Arthur News


When crowds of people began entering Max Bowl in Port Arthur to seek shelter from Hurricane Harvey, the bowling alley’s staff and assorted volunteers leapt into action.
For days, the bowling alley served as a temporary shelter for hundreds of people affected by Hurricane Harvey’s flooding. Jeff Tolliver, the bowling alley’s general manager, estimated the business housed 600 or more people. Some animals also joined the crowd.
“There were people pretty much everywhere, on the approaches, the game room, on the floor, really anywhere they could find a space,” Tolliver said.
Tolliver said he learned people were seeking refuge at the bowling alley because firefighters called him the night of Aug. 29 and asked that he turn off the alarm system. With rain falling outside, someone had popped the bowling alley’s locks and entered the building.
Terry Gilcrease, who cooks at the bowling alley, said he learned the morning of Aug 30 that people were seeking refuge at Max Bowl. Gilcrease received a call from Max Bowl’s owners asking that the business make the people inside feel more comfortable.
With only a mile between his apartment and Max Bowl, Gilcrease waded through 3 feet of floodwaters for three days to get to work and turn on the stoves.
Gilcrease said he cooked about 70 pizzas and various others foods on Aug. 30 for the people housed at the bowling alley. On the following day, he recalled cooking a pot of beans and rice.
But Gilcrease said he didn’t do it alone. He also received help food from a few volunteers. Gilcrease said he believes the volunteers who helped were named Jerry, Angela and Catherine.
“Everybody really came together, and it was good to see people helping people like that,” Gilcrease said. “In the day and time we live in, it’s good to see the community come together like that.”
In addition to meals cooked by Gilcrease and the volunteers, food also came in the form of outside donations. Tolliver and volunteers helped organized the various donations and hand out rations and other supplies.
After three days, Gilcrease said airplanes flown into the Jack Brooks Regional Airport began to evacuate people out of Max Bowl. The crowd of people in the bowling alley slowly thinned as they were taken other cities and shelters.

Subscribe to our free email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox