Harold Bishop

Harold Bishop has lived in Houston since 1983, when he moved here while working as a flight attendant for Continental Airlines. Since then, he has experienced many storms, including Hurricane Alicia, which impacted the city just one week after he moved. During Hurricane Harvey, Bishop lived in midtown. He recalls that he was prepared to stay with his neighbors on the second floor, but that flood water only reached the sidewalk and did not flood his apartment. Bishop credits new drainage projects for protecting his neighborhood. A member of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church since 1999, Bishop volunteered at the distribution center set up after the storm. The church provided people with supplies and financial assistance, as well as helped members complete FEMA applications. Bishops says that Wheeler is a dynamic church and that the pastors believe in giving back to the community. He tells of how during one service, Reverend Cosby asks the congregation to stand up if they had lost property or needed help, and proceeded to give out envelopes filled with cash to those in need. Bishop explains that he volunteered for about two months, and that he felt called to help since he did not lose anything in the flooding. He talks about how his neighborhood reacted to the storm and about the response to other storms. Bishop hoped that whoever would win the upcoming mayoral election would take action to help the city. Finally, Bishop discusses how his mother was neighbors with Maya Angelou, something he mentioned at the start of the interview. 

You can read the transcript of his interview here: