Twice, the application was turned down, in 2017 and 2018, before catastrophe struck. On July 4, 2025, the Guadalupe River rose in the dark and killed at least 27 campers and counselors at a girls’ camp along its banks in the county. The proposed siren and river gauge warning system might have helped save lives.
Kerr County thought the funds existed and I believe there is even evidence of unspent federal mitigation funds, but they never reached the riverbank in this case. I’ve devoted 25 years to moving money toward gaps like that one, helping recover and redirect more than $1 billion in mission-driven capital. I trained as an accountant and studied theology, an odd pairing until you realize what each discipline actually asks.
Theology asks what we owe one another. Accounting asks whether we’ve paid. Kerr County's experience suggests we haven’t.
To my mind, this isn’t a story about incompetence or even bureaucracy. It’s a story about trust, and about a country that has less of it to spend than it used to. Consider the simplest measure of whether we still trust strangers enough to help them, whether we give to them at all.
In 2000, roughly two-thirds of American households gave to charity. By 2018, the Generosity Commission cites a report by the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy indicating that this figure had fallen to just 49.6 percent, the first time in the survey’s history that fewer than half U.S. households gave anything at all. If left unaddressed, I fear the percentage of Americans who donate could drop to single digits in the next 50 years.
The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer found something even more telling: seven in 10 people worldwide say they’re unwilling or hesitant to trust someone whose values, background, or sources of information differ from their own. The survey also found that nonprofits were not regarded as the world’s most ethical and competent institutions. Businesses scored better.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
