Students contribute to hurricane relief fund

Roughly 700 backpacks, $3,500 have been collected

Supplies+and+toiletries+that+students%2C+staff+and+faculty+have+collected+sit+in+the+StuCo+room.++

Alexandra Canizales

Supplies and toiletries that students, staff and faculty have collected sit in the StuCo room.

Just weeks after the announcement of the Hurricane Harvey relief fund, students, teachers and parents who contributed toward the fund have altogether been able to raise roughly $3,500 and 700 backpacks for the students of Hardin-Jefferson ISD.

“We would still like to bring another 500 backpacks but I don’t know if that’s an unrealistic expectation for Friday,” Student Council adviser Allison Stamey said. “There’s about 850 of their students still without homes. I’ve been checking in on them and they lost everything so we’re just trying to get everything together by Friday.”

The process in which donations are collected is still the same as last week, however, T-shirts have been newly added to the contribution.

“We’ve ordered T-shirts that say ‘Deep in the Heart of Texas’ and we’re going to take all the proceeds of those shirts and send it [to Hardin-Jefferson ISD] but those shirts haven’t come yet, so we’re going to have to sell them after this week,” Stamey said.

Because of the generous donation of the relief fund, along with the additional help of the Student Councils of Hebron and Marcus High Schools who contributed in collecting school supplies to add to the drive, many students will be able to receive the support they need to properly start their school years.

“It’s a good drive because [the donations] go directly to the school in need of help instead of going through an organization, so we know it’ll directly help them,” student body multicultural officer Esha Harish said. “So far we’ve gotten a lot of donations and we really want to get enough money to support the community down there that got affected.”