HOUSTON — Now, almost a year after Hurricane Harvey swept our city, we’re still hearing stories of bravery and kindness. This one is about two brand-new bar owners in Crosby who decided during the storm they needed to do something to help.
The bar is stocked and the neon is turned on today, but one year ago, Backyard Bar and Grill looked nothing like this.
“A lot of blood, sweat and tears, I'll tell you that," said co-owner Nathan Utzman.
Utzman says they just bought the vacant building in June, just two months before Harvey, but it was that devastation and the drive to do something that led to a suggestion from his partner.
“And we had an empty building with electricity and AC," Utzman said. "He said 'Let’s open the bar as a shelter.'”
At first Utzman wasn’t sure.
“And I'm not going to lie I wasn’t for it at first, but after it was all said and done, I met a lot of longtime friends through that," Utzman said.
But once he saw the lives they touched, he knew there was no other way.
“They work on their house during the day, they came back and slept and ate," Utzman said. “They had full reigns to anything they needed."
It was an empty building, plenty of room for cots and air mattresses, so they became a temporary home for more than a dozen people. The two owners sleeping alongside them.
“I stayed up here with them, Garrett and I both did. And we were here 24/7. We’d leave, go to the store, drive around, help people, but other than that, we were here," Utzman said.
Some of those victims stayed as long as a month.
“They just lost everything they had, all they needed was a friend," Utzman said.
For everyone else though, it became a place to drop off or pick up whatever they needed.
“People were able to come shop, get what they need and go back to their house," Utzman said.
And today, almost a year later, the bar owners have come full circle, finally opening the bar as they always intended to open it.
“At the end of the day, I wouldn’t change anything that we did," Utzman said.
But they’ll never forget their past, their time as a shelter, that’s now forever part of their story.
“Harvey was just the beginning of a lifetime I guess," Utzman said.
The bar has already opened their doors, but they plan to have their Grand Opening the third weekend in September.