These unsung heroes of Hurricane Ike deserve recognition, thanks

After this monster of a storm moved inland, Texas Task Force One and the Texas Engineering and Extension Service swift water teams, urban search and rescue teams and helicopter rescue experts conducted search and rescue operations. The Lone Star State Incident Management Team and workers with the Texas Forest Service helped manage staging areas where truckloads of commodities were sent to evacuation centers throughout the state. Employees of the Texas Department of Corrections helped evacuate and ensure the safety of inmates in severely damaged corrections facilities. Hundreds of Texas Parks and Wildlife employees and Game Wardens assisted with law enforcement chores, search and rescue and aiding evacuees who fled to state parks to avoid the storm.

Nearly 1,000 employees of the Texas Department of Transportation worked around-the-clock to clean debris off major roadways and inspect roads and bridges to ensure safety for vehicle travel while the Department of Information Service monitored communications outages. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services set up a statewide evacuation hotline and monitored reports involving children and the elderly. The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) sent vaccines, trucks, equipment and supplies to the affected areas. DSHS continues working with individuals who have special medical needs. Employees of the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services and the Department of Aging and Disability Services have also assisted.

More than 100 Texas Commission on Environmental Quality volunteers made calls to assess the condition of public water supply and wastewater treatment plants in the affected areas. Emergency response crews from the Texas Railroad Commission assisted with gas supply needs.

The Office of the Attorney General extended its hours so the public could report any price gouging, and also made efforts to ensure that families depending on child support checks in the ravaged areas but without mail service were able to have alternative ways to receive their checks.

Employees of the Texas Education Agency surveyed affected schools and posted information about school closings on the agency's Web site. They were preparing, too, for waivers for missed instructional days for school districts hit by the storm and for ensuring that students could be enrolled in other schools when necessary. The Texas Department of Insurance extended its toll-free Consumer Help Line for homeowners who suffered property damage. The Texas Department of Agriculture assisted not only with animal issues and concerns, but also with the distribution of commodities. Workers at the Public Utility Commission fielded calls from consumers regarding power outages and restoration time estimates, while the Texas Workforce Commission prepared to work with local Workforce Development Boards to ensure employment and unemployment services were available to Texans in the wake of the storm.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission oversaw truckload after truckload of ice and water that was delivered to citizens in the path of the hurricane and is providing emergency food stamps to qualified hurricane victims. Property owners in Texas were urged by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs to update rental availabilities to ensure all available housing opportunities were known to those seeking long-term shelter.

Nearly 1,000 Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers were deployed after Ike hit, assisting with search and rescue missions, door-to-door searches, traffic flow and security. Even commissioned officers from the Driver's License, Criminal Law Enforcement and Ranger Divisions were called in to help. Some 7,500 members of the Texas National Guard were deployed. Other employees from a variety of state agencies also responded.

Thousands of Texans in need after this devastating storm were touched by thousands of their fellow Texans. And whether these Texas state employees were knee-deep in mud and water in the ravaged areas searching for survivors or on a telephone in a state office building in Austin offering assistance to victims, they are all heroes - and we thank them and salute them!

For Texans who wish to contribute money, resources or time, contact nonprofit organizations such as the American Red Cross, area or regional food banks and humane societies throughout Texas as quickly as possible.