07/12/2025
Immigrant Initiative:
On Sunday, July 6th, I got a call from Mickael Mayer, an immigrant from France, asking if I’d join him to help with disaster cleanup just west of us along Nameless Road. I had just come back from a trip and had a full week of meetings ahead—so it wasn’t convenient. But I couldn’t say no, still carrying the heartbreak of the Camp Mystic flood and the lives lost there. So I hopped into a car filled with tools—and a few baguettes.
We first tried to volunteer at Round Mountain Baptist Church but were told they couldn’t take more help that night and suggested we check with neighbors instead.So we started knocking on doors along Nameless Road,
Mickael undeterred by long driveways, barking dogs, or the chance a neighbor might come out with a shotgun. The first house said they were fine but pointed us to another. I stayed in the car at one house because of a large barking dog, but Mickael pressed on. When I went to find him, he had already found an elderly couple whose home had flooded and another family whose mobile home had been destroyed.
Mickael didn’t wait for someone to tell him what to do—he just did it. He took some photos and encouraged me to share them online, and that simple spark lit a fire. The post was shared nearly 500 times and seen by hundreds of thousands, bringing attention and volunteers to Sandy Creek when it was needed most
More than five days later, we’re only now seeing larger organized help arrive.
It’s amazing how one determined neighbor—an immigrant with a heart full of love for his community—can remind us what it means to look out for each other.
“Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness. For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves.”— A favorite scripture, and one this Frenchman lives by.
