WATCH: Pence Comes To Houston, Starts Helping Clear The Wreckage

On Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence brought a message of hope to Texans who are beginning the painful process of rebuilding communities devastated by Hurricane Harvey. While Pence did many things that one would expect of a politician responding to a natural disaster — giving speeches, shaking hands — he did a whole lot more than that, rolling up his sleeves, putting on the work gloves, and working alongside volunteers in the blistering heat to start clearing debris.

Bloomberg News‘ Jennifer Jacobs captured some images of Pence working in the “roasting hot” conditions:

In his statement to the 150 or so volunteers in Rockport, Pence promised that the administration would be there “every step until we bring Southeast Texas back bigger and better than ever before.”

The Dallas Morning News, which clearly wasn’t impressed with President Trump’s trips to Corpus Christi and Austin on Tuesday, couldn’t help but praise Pence for having “donned work gloves to haul debris, and issued hug after hug on a tour of storm damage.”

“The hands-on approach stood in contrast to President Donald Trump’s trip to Corpus Christi and Austin two days earlier, when the president never encountered displaced Texans as he received briefings and met with state and local officials,” the outlet noted.

After helping in Rockport, Pence took an aerial tour of the region and eventually landed in Victoria, where he met with a few hundred more volunteers and offered them similar words of encouragement and hands-on support.

Some more coverage of the events of the day from Jacobs, including Franklin Graham’s prayer:

H/T YoungCons