Staff
Gary Flaharty
| Executive Director
Gary serves as the Executive Director of Southwest Houston United Responds or SHUR. He also serves as the Director of Communications for Texas Congregational Disaster Readiness or TXCDR, a group of faith-based organizations working together to help our community to respond to disasters by mobilizing volunteers prepared to serve and shorten the gap between disaster and recovery. After 35 years with Baker Hughes, Gary founded SCLinx Incorporated and co-authored Customer-Anchored Supply Chains. He and his wife Kim attend Bellaire UMC and have lived in the Meyerland area for thirty years. Their son Sean and his wife Chole live in Atlanta.
Kelsey McCown
| Volunteer and Logistics Coordinator
Kelsey, a Houston native, graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Sociology from Texas A&M University. Her myriad of experiences and interests range from interning as an Outreach Coordinator and Advocate at the Brazos Valley Sexual Assault Resource Center to interning with Strategic Initiatives at United Against Human Trafficking, another non-profit organization based in Houston. She recently moved back to Houston to begin her journey developing her career and serving with her community. With a strong background in customer service and the need to help people, she stumbled upon SHUR through the AmeriCorps website. As an AmeriCorps member and working with SHUR, Kelsey is able learn more about her community through reaching out to local congregations and businesses and teaching them about the ways they can help. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, fostering and loving her animals, and reading any book she can add to her library.
Joe Hafemeister
| Project Director
Sam Perez
| Project Lead
Sam, a West Texas Native, graduated from Oral Roberts University with a Bachelor of Arts in Theology with a concentration in Intercultural Studies. Her experiences and interests include interning with Literature and Evangelism International and being an Event Coordinator at Andy B’s Entertainment. Sam joined SHUR through AmeriCorps in hopes to better help the community and gain new experiences in working in a non-profit organization. As a project lead, her roles include giving her crew instructions on daily projects and supervising volunteer events.