By Andrew Moore, Huma Munir and Natalia Bernard
For Reporting Texas

It’s been several months since the fires in the Bastrop area have been extinguished, and the effects can still be seen on the trees and the homes. But the people are a different story. They are alive and well, and still focused on living through the fire.

Some residents, like Tina Longoria, had insurance and were lucky.

“Every business, every church, every school — you name it, everybody got together,” Longoria said. “Everywhere you go you get a fire-relief waiver or discount. They just provide anything.”

Longoria lost her house but thanks to insurance was able to buy new property. Her friends, including one with a tractor, helped her clean her old home site and avoid paying for a company to do it. Volunteer groups provided her clothing and water during the transition to a new home.

One source of support for residents was the Bastrop County Emergency Food Pantry. Director Tresha Silva could not have done it without the outpouring of community support.

“We had just been hit really hard during the summer, and so our shelves were extremely bare,” Silva said. “But the community and people all over reached out in big ways and we started getting donations brought in immediately.”

Silva said that many businesses, including Wal-Mart and Walgreens, donated supplies while Dell employees organized food drives. The United Way and University of Texas student organizations were among the groups that also helped. The pantry was able to donate more than 40,000 pounds of food.

Such largesse was especially vital for residents like Christopher Alvarez, who didn’t have insurance.

“People were coming in with blankets, clothes, shoes, food, water … and just passing them out,” said Alvarez, who lost almost everything in the fire. Now he and his family are staying with friends while he saves money for a new place to live.

“It was amazing seeing everybody as a community” as well as people from “the neighboring towns like La Grange and Austin,” he said. “People who didn’t even have a relation to anybody here were coming in and offering their help.”

Environmental Investigator Gretchen Gardner said Bastrop residents are generally coping well.

“I think, without fail, everyone that I spoke to had a big smile on their face and just a ‘We’re going to get it done, we’re going to rebuild’ kind of attitude,” said Gardner, who lives and works in Bastrop and says she can’t imaging living anywhere else.