📅 July 4-12, 2024

Torrential flooding impacts Kerr County and surrounding areas.

Dondi begins grassroots coordination, helping families search for lost belongings and respond to disaster in real-time.

A team of nine gathered at Rosewood on July 6th and deployed to CenterPoint.Shortly after arrival, a body was found within their midst. The weight of the moment took hold.

Dondi quietly began picking up personal effects and debris, distributing bags to others: clear for belongings, black for trash—setting the first field protocol in motion.

That evening, Dondi created the Found on the Guadalupe River Facebook group.

What had started as instinct and prayer became a mission rooted in reverence and response.

📅 July 7, 2024

Dondi added Deanna Lindsey as the first group admin.

She issued a call to Rosewood members and volunteers, purchasing tubs, detergent, and supplies and delivering them to fire stations and search-and-rescue sites.

Two volunteers picked up their first loads to begin cleaning.

The first successful item match was made—necklaces Dondi had cleaned the night before were returned to their owner.

The first carload of detergent arrived.

The Facebook group began to grow rapidly, and by day’s end, friends and family were sharing it across the region.

📅 July 8, 2024

Dondi issued a public call for additional admin support.

The first carload of trash bags was delivered.

She facilitated the first in-person reunion between a found item and its rightful owner.

A family liaison protocol was developed, and personal phone numbers were removed from the public page to safeguard volunteers.

Amber and Janie returned sealed loads of carefully cleaned items, each one accompanied by handwritten notes—a quiet, beautiful act of reverence.

📅 July 9, 2024

The second successful item match occurred, and the first multi-location match was confirmed: two separate finds returned to the same owner.

Dondi delivered a carload of cleaning supplies to the CenterPoint gym, which began operating as an informal supply hub.

She followed a woman from the gym to the laundromat, where she helped wash five loads—despite having only a small SAR load of her own.

That simple act became a quiet laundromat ministry: Dondi began paying for and helping with the laundry of both flood victims and first responders.

A QR code system was launched.

More BINs were deployed throughout the region.

Texas Monthly interviewed Dondi .

Fox News interviewed Dondi, as she Fox News donated food to the Comfort Fire Department.

Dondi received $200 in donations, immediately used for additional supplies.

She also connected with her first Mystic family—a sacred relationship that would become foundational to the spiritual architecture of the mission.

Press and media attention begins (local stations, then state-level news).

Families are reunited with meaningful items. Public sentiment explodes—people want to help or follow the stories.

By nightfall, the Facebook group reached nearly 13,000 members.

📅 July 10, 2024

Charged with a extremely sensitive task, Dondi calls in Staci, a local textile expert. They work for 8 hrs on an emotionally taxing private project- this becomes the second of many.

Team spends hours moderating the group, removing inappropriate comments and banning those whose energy or conduct did not align with the sacred tone of the work.

Whatever time Dondi is on Facebook- DeAnna is doing triple. The weight of the group’s growth made it clear: more help was urgently needed to protect the mission’s integrity.

We invited Kim to our team, and before noon that day, national News was calling her family- it was a firestorm.

📅 July 11, 2024

Comfort Fire Department representative informed Dondi that 15 tubs previously dropped off had entered a formal chain of custody and could not be retrieved—marking a critical shift in interagency coordination.

People show up to the laundromat with bags of quarters, the car wash attendant lets us wash for free. People want to help.

Imposter and fraudulent groups began to emerge, copying FOTGR’s name, logo, and language, and falsely claiming affiliation.

Dondi publicly reminded the community:

“No one working with me is posting that they are working with me.”

Despite growing challenges, the Facebook group reached 21,000 members, a reflection of the trust being built, one act at a time.

📅 July 12, 2024

Logistics continued, but so did fatigue. Behind the scenes, the original team was working relentlessly—balancing public communication, field recovery, storage coordination, and spiritual stewardship.

The project remained rooted in integrity, even as challenges grew.

📆

July 13–20: Turning Point Week for Found on the Guadalupe River

📍 July 13–15: High-Level Outreach & Institutional Inertia

Dondi conducts targeted visits to sheriff’s departments, fire stations, and churches, with one clear goal:

Speak directly with decision-makers.

These are not awareness visits—they are purposeful attempts to establish coordination and formal support for reunification efforts.

Most institutions are still in crisis—searching for the missing, holding funerals, or entangled in red tape.

The systems aren’t ready. But the FOUND team continues forward.

The New York Times follows Dondi and the project for days, capturing the heart, hustle, and sacredness of the work.

Dondi delicately balances appointments with media as she and a covert team of volunteers work quietly on highly sensitive reunifications. These reunification require a special need that costs $1000, just as she is discussing this huge price tag with Kim , a benevolent Rosewood Member interrupts the phone call to say she’d like to donate- without knowing about the call Dondi was on- the donor gives $1000.

DeAnna is spending 8-10 hours a day on facebook. It is a full time job.

Kim is with SAR and working directly with families, coming home tired and then moderating more.

As our team dominates a local laundromat, we continue to make connections with out-of-town SAR. Through instagram posts , donors provide us with electrolytes and essential oil nose plugs for their duties.

📍 July 14–15: Reunions Multiply & Emotional Gravity Sets In

The group sees a wave of powerful reunions—lost journals, wedding rings, baby items, and family photos are returned home.

The public begins to understand: this is not a lost-and-found; it’s sacred restoration.

We guide volunteers gently but firmly:

“Treat every item with reverence. Treat every person with loving kindness.”

DeAnna is high level investigation mode this week.

The team has become experts at “removing the river” from any personal effects,

📍 July 15: The Shipping Roadblock

Cordonate(a 501c3) reaches out personally and asks the pivotal question:

“What do you need most right now?”

Your response is immediate and practical:

“Shipping. People are leaving town—we need to return these items safely and respectfully.”

📍 July 16: UPS System Secured

By the next day, thanks to Cordonate’s help, a complete UPS shipping protocol is in place.

Items are now carefully logged, labeled, packed, and mailed to families across Texas and beyond.

This becomes one of the first fully functional logistics systems of the project—faster, effortless and a relief for grieving families that live outside of Kerr county.

We put a call out for a warehouse- we know we are going to need space.

Dondi receives an 6 figure offer of support- she kindly thanks the benefactors and informs them that she has everything she needs for this mission.

📍 July 17–20: Emotional Integrity & Evolving Focus

We become aware of a sensitive matter via the facebook group- a grieving family mistakenly takes something out of town that is not theirs.

The situation is addressed as best as possible privately, with compassion, setting the precedent that grief is not linear, and grace must guide every step.

As mildew sets in on heavier objects, the focus shifts to delicate preservation: textiles, photographs, leather, paper.

The Found-Project.com website is established.

Volunteers begin to build a database of facebook posts.

📍 July 17–19: National Media Deep Dive

Dondi speaks with 1–2 major media outlets daily, Prime Time News outlets, and others.

Even under pressure, the message stays clear:

“We are not just recovering items—we are restoring stories, one piece at a time.”

Without Megan, we would not be able to navigate the behind the SAR pick ups.

📍We receive two messages that appear to be an effort to recreate what we are doing, along with documents that include a huge tax bill. Dondi calls the City Manager for clarification, but cannot access.

Dondi begins continues advocating for the release of held items at sheriff’s offices and fire stations. Driving from point A to Point B for hours to try to get in front of a decision maker.

A series of critical meetings with city leaders and organizations is held. These include sensitive but strategic conversations that shift perceptions and open pathways for deeper collaboration.

Through one of these meetings, Dondi is informed about a possible warehouse space that could become a central hub for intake and sorting.

📆

July 21–31: From Field to Foundation — A Shift Into Structure

📍 July 21: Public Declaration & Digital Defense

A formal press release is issued to reinforce the project’s standards and dominion of mission.

This comes in response to increasing public interest and confusion caused by scam accounts trying to imitate or exploit the group.

Behind the scenes, time is spent daily monitoring fake pages, issuing warnings, and protecting the integrity of Found on the Guadalupe River.

📍 July 22–24: Doors Begin to Open

a much needed break over the weekend as volunteers prep to move into a potential new space.

📍 July 25–26: Warehouse Secured — Operations Begin to Move

Dondi meets with the procurer of the warehouse to assess its suitability for the project’s sacred work.

Within 48 hours, a massive pivot occurs:

The group is granted access to the warehouse, and items previously held by law enforcement and fire stations are released.

This marks a major breakthrough—a symbolic and practical shift from scattered, vulnerable storage to a centralized, protected system.

📍 July 27–31: The Infrastructure Phase Begins

The team begins slowly transitioning from field-based recovery to systematic intake and processing.

Local Non Profit and Business leaders Collaborate and Volunteer which strengthens the efforts substantially. Volunteers work together to build out the intake protocol, tagging, logging, and gently cleaning high-priority and fragile items.

Though many spontaneous recoveries still occur via facebook , the focus is now on:

Reverent sorting and storage

Prioritization of time-sensitive or delicate materials

Establishing clean zones for different categories of items

A fully functioning website with forms for reunification is streamlined and working beautifully.

A filmmaker spends a few days with the team to feature the mission and heart of FOUND on the Guadadlupe River

📍 Ongoing Threads Throughout the Week

Local Non Profit and Church Leaders Offer gentle reunification service as well as administrative and volunteer support.

DeAnna and Kim coordinate daily online issues ranging from connecting well meaning parties, removing unhelpful content.

Media presence remains high.Dondi continues giving interviews, acting as the project’s primary spokesperson and steward.

Daily tasks are layered: serving grieving families, protecting digital spaces, building infrastructure, coordinating volunteers, and maintaining emotional leadership.

The topic of timeline is discussed and Dondi offers ideas to include local quilters and artists to assist in the initiative when time comes for unclaimed items.

Teri focuses on high value items and reuniting wallets and sensitive documents.

By the end of July, there are solid working stations, set volunteers and efficient procedures and protocols.

📅 August 1st- 10th Reunification efforts ramp up as the systems set up start to flow; the warehouse has the perfect set up, the website functions easily, the ability to ship from UPS makes long distance claims low stress for owners and next of kin.

Local Non profit and church leaders engage in key roles of systems including working directly in reunification, scheduling and asset support. This frees Dondi to organize and refine systems and prioritize return of items;

1. Identifiable of deceased

2. Identifiable by name high value

3. Identifiable by name/ image

4. Identifiable by type/ distinct

5. Identifiable by group

(Children take priority)

📅 August 10th- 17th

The team focuses on returning personal effects of the deceased: wallets, phones, jewelry- including over 1K in cash and a great grandmother’s ring!

Deanna and Kim notice waves in traffic and adjust accordingly. The team still spends hours removing unnecessary content and banning inappropriate behavior. We keep notes for Meta.

📅 August 18th

THE MONKEY is FOUND! The much discussed jellycat Monkey belonging to an angel camper is found by an amazing SAR volunteer. Thank to the help of Aphyr St James-Feeney, her dog Bingo & their team, a Texas Ranger, a donated OZONO machine, Cordonate funded shipping- the Monkey is returned to a thankful family.

📅 August 19-25

Strengthening Shipping and Warehouse Operations

We experienced an increase in shipping requests. Many out-of-town campers affected by the floods — including families who had endured profound loss — found comfort in the option to receive belongings privately by mail. With the support of Coordinate and UPS, this process was made both seamless and respectful.

Regular pickup times were also established at the Reunite Warehouse on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, allowing us to streamline and better organize the flow of items. The warehouse continued to serve as a central hub for search and rescue teams, local law enforcement, and fire stations, who could deliver recovered belongings either during open hours or through a secured drop-off bin located on our porch.

In addition, several local volunteers joined us for workdays, most often on Saturdays, to help manage the increasing volume of items. Their willingness to step in and serve made it possible to keep pace with the growing needs of the community.

As school reconvenes, volunteers dip as most resume with their daily obligations. Local community leaders Angela & Barbara are integral in the daily administration support.

Teri and a handful of amazing volunteers keep everything functioning.

📅 August 26: Honored with Proclamation for Volunteer Excellence

On August 26, Found on the Guadalupe River was formally recognized by Judge Shane Stolarczyk and the Kendall County Commissioners Court with a Proclamation for Volunteer Excellence. This honor acknowledged the extraordinary dedication of our volunteers, many of whom were able to attend the ceremony and share in this moment of gratitude.

Following this recognition, the team observed its first six-day hiatus over Labor Day week, taking time to rest and renew before continuing the work.

📅 September 1: Hacked

On September 1, a coordinated cyberattack targeted Found on the Guadalupe River through Facebook. Administrators Dondi, Deanna , Teri and Yvonne were all affected. The group page was completely removed, and each administrator’s personal account was wiped out — including family photos, community groups, and nonprofit pages.

In response, Dondi reached out to local and national media while Deanna and Teri contacted Meta representatives. Dondi also sought support from Cord Shiflet . At the same time, members of the group, local leaders, and media outlets pressed Meta directly. Thanks to the collective outpouring of advocacy, nearly all accounts and the group itself were restored within 23 hours.

📅 September 2: Cash for Kindness

Dondi Persyn was surprised at Boerne Framers market by Ryan Wolf of Fox News with a Cash for Kindness award, recognizing her volunteer work with Found on the Guadalupe River. The gesture came as both a joy and a relief — easing the constant need to gather quarters for laundry and daily operations, and reminding the team that their efforts were seen and valued.

📅 September 3–12: Next Phase Planning

Dondi met with the local benefactor who generously provides the Reunite Warehouse space. Together, they began outlining a thoughtful strategy for the eventual warehouse phase-out and transition into the next phase of the project. These discussions ensured that the work of Found on the Guadalupe River would remain purposeful and sustainable, while continuing to honor the community it serves.

📅 September 13: Support Shows Up in a Big Way

On September 13, a youth retreat group from St. Peter’s Episcopal Church — supported by the Episcopal Diocese — arrived at the warehouse in full force. Their energy and commitment made a remarkable impact, processing more than 40 bins of incoming items in a single day. Their generosity of spirit helped lighten the load and move the work forward at a critical time.

📅 September 16

Dondi reaches out to Mystic families as a marked increase of Mystic items are recovered.

Planning continues for a large scale reunification operation- tentatively in October.

Moving into the Holidays, FOUND on the Guadalupe River will begin the transition of unclaimed items to the REVERENCE project- a way to memorialize items from the flood in the following ways:

FOUND ON THE GUADALUPE RIVER QUILT- made with unclaimed and surrendered textiles made by local quilters.

REMNANTS a series of reverent pieces created by local artists that tell the story of the flood.

PHOTO Preservation Project in collaboration with the University of Delaware.