Muddy Stuffed Bunny Inspires Children's Book for Texas Flood Relief

As deadly floods tore through her Hill Country hometown July 4, Jeanelle McCall sat helpless in her East Texas home, watching heartbreaking photos fill Facebook. Unable to be there in person, she turned to the only thing she could control — her art. “I needed to do it,” McCall said. “I don't know what else to say. I have to do the art, I have to. It’s like breathing.”

Watercolor after watercolor filled her studio wall. Soon, she realized the paintings could become more than personal therapy — they could help her community rebuild. With the help of her cousin in Kerrville, McCall transformed one haunting image — a stuffed bunny caked in mud — into a children’s book about hope after Hill Country flooding left more than 130 people dead. The book, titled “Stuffie and the Great Flood,” grew from that single image into a story of hope and optimism amid the devastation.

News broadcasts showed damage throughout the area, “and I couldn't be there. I was just bleeding for it,” McCall said. “I even posted (the paintings) on Facebook as each day went by, and the reactions I got were very dear and heartwarming,” she said. “It wasn't until I saw this photograph of this little bunny in the mud that I did that painting.”

Through the power of Facebook, Martha Barrow, the owner of the painted stuffed bunny, reached out to McCall and shared her own story of her connection to the Guadalupe River in nearby Hunt, just a few miles from Kerrville. Barrow’s memories of the river go back to many summers visiting her family’s cabin in Hunt, where her stuffed bunny along with many belongings, including those of her late father, washed away with the floodwaters. “It felt like losing another piece of him, but finding this, and just seeing this beautiful story come out of it, it's given me hope. It’s just been a bright light amid all of the terrible things that happened to everyone,” Barrow said.

McCall finished illustrating and writing the children’s book in late August. She quickly got ready to take on the next step: selling books and putting donations into the hands of those who need them. She pledged to donate all proceeds from the first 100 copies — $26.65 per book — to nonprofit flood-recovery organizations, and 50% of proceeds from every copy sold after that. McCall managed the printing of the books but needed help with the business and distribution side of publication. Her cousin, Phyllis Sample, stepped up to the challenge despite having no experience running a business.

Sample made a trip to the bank to set up their new business, PJ Creative Enterprise, while McCall sent all the materials to Kerrville. As order requests quickly came in through McCall’s website, Sample got to work as fast as possible, processing, packaging and shipping one book at a time. “I made so many mistakes (at the start), it was unreal,” Sample said. “And we laughed, and it was kind of the blind leading the blind, but we've got it down now, we know what we're doing.”

Through word of mouth, Facebook posts and Sample’s makeshift home workspace, they managed to sell the first batch of 100 books within one month. “My initial thought was, we need to get this into the hands of every single person in Hunt, they need it,” Sample said. After seeing how fast the first copies sold, along with the continued positive feedback, they expect to surpass at least 300 copies sold, Sample said.

Among the purchasers of the book is Allyson Langston, whose two daughters have a personal connection to Camp Mystic, where 25 girls and two counselors were killed. Langston’s youngest daughter attended camp for the eighth time last summer, while her oldest went for the 11th time, most recently as a counselor. Langston and her family spent six hours praying for the safety of their daughter, who was working at the camp at the time the floods inundated Camp Mystic.

Her daughter, Lilly Grace Langston, who was 20 years old at the time, was fortunate to return safely to her family that day, and McCall's book is a representation of the resilience that characterizes the Texas Hill Country in a time of devastation, Langston said. Langston’s daughter “was the song leader on the (camp) bus because it's instilled in her from her time spent in the Hill Country that we have to have hope and we have to stand through the hard times,” she said. “I think the book, for us, it was just like everything's going to be okay. God has a hand in all this.”

McCall and Sample continue to sell the book to reach as many people as possible, preserve the fond memories of the Guadalupe River, spread a positive message and raise donations to help their community in whatever way possible. Books are still available through an online order form. “Even if you don't have a connection to the Hill Country, that story alone of the sweet little baby bunny that gets lost and gets reunited with her owner, I mean, it's just precious,” Langston said. “It's such a special, special little book, I think in so many ways.”