Hero photograph — the land, the family, or the rebuild in progress
Sandy Creek · Travis County, Texas
Some places quietly shape the people who love them.
For thirty-six years, Asher Acres was one of those places. On July 5, 2025, a flood took nearly all of it. We are rebuilding — stronger, higher, and open to everyone.
$600,000
still needed to finish the rebuild
$343,000
already given by the Sandy Creek community and our extended family — in donations, labor, and materials
$500,000
committed by our family from our own funds
$843,000 secured $1,443,000 total rebuild
Progress across every source — community donations, donated labor and materials, and our family's own commitment. Gifts made here through Gifted Dreamers fund the remaining $600,000.
The same view, after the flood
What happened
Five generations of our family gathered at Asher Acres to celebrate milestones, care for one another, and steward the land. Before dawn on July 5, 2025, floodwaters took three family homes, our family spice business, the barns, vehicles, livestock, and decades of work. Across Sandy Creek, neighbors lost homes too, and lives were lost.
In the days that followed, what was left of our property became a gathering place — for volunteers, churches, nonprofits, neighbors, and public agencies working to help families recover. Those relationships became partnerships, and those partnerships became organizations that are still working today.
A living demonstration
We could rebuild what was here. Instead we are building what the flood taught us to build — and making it something other rural families can walk through, price out, and copy.
Built to endure
Homes elevated roughly ten feet above the floodplain, with solar, battery storage, and rainwater harvesting for power and water when the grid goes down.
Working with the creek
Riparian restoration, native grasses, and pollinator habitat that slow runoff, hold banks, and bring wildlife back — instead of fighting the water.
Common ground
The elevated lower level cannot be lived in, so it becomes shared space: a community meeting room, a workshop, and the family spice business.
Who we are
The Asher Acres rebuilding project is fiscally sponsored by Gifted Dreamers, Inc., a Texas 501(c)(3) nonprofit — EIN 39-3863796. Our family helped establish the Sandy Creek Alliance and the Travis County Recovery Alliance, and has worked on flood recovery in this community for more than a year.
In the news
- “Why almost no one has rebuilt their homes 1 year after Travis County floods” — Austin American-Statesman
- “One year after the Texas floods, home feels further away than ever” — Grist
- “A year after the Hill Country floods, Kerrville and Sandy Creek face different recoveries” — KUT, Austin's NPR station