Flood of support

School, district unite to help Harvey victims

Cleaning Up Junior Hanna Anderson and freshman Summer Williams use the lists to fit brushes and mosquito repellent into the orange buckets. Supplies came from students around the school and had to be sorted and placed in the right bucket.

Jason Gordon

Cleaning Up Junior Hanna Anderson and freshman Summer Williams use the lists to fit brushes and mosquito repellent into the orange buckets. Supplies came from students around the school and had to be sorted and placed in the right bucket.

Emma Sipple, Co-Editor in Chief

Bright orange five gallon buckets dotted the AG barn as students and teachers gathered together to prepare the flood buckets for send off to South Texas. Assembly lines were set up as students sorted the supplies, stuffed them into buckets and cataloged what supplies were still needed to fill the buckets up.

After the devastation of Hurricane Harvey across the Texas coast, the school and the district stepped up to help those affected.

Algebra II teacher Peggy Blair pitched her idea for a fund raiser to Superintendent Andrew Kim and called together the teachers and organizations around the school to participate in the Comal Challenge.

Graphic by LJ Haider
Hurricane graphic

“The idea is to collect cleaning supplies and assemble them in a bucket to be distributed to families who will need them as they start the recovery process,” Kim wrote in an email to Comal ISD staff. “The buckets can also go to volunteers who are assisting with cleanup in the damaged areas.  I think this would be an immediate help and support.”

Organizations from around the school such as NHS, Student Council and FACS organized the supplies and sorted them into buckets.

The overwhelming number of buckets coming from the school and the other schools in the district caused the date of delivery to be pushed back to Sept. 14 where the buckets were sent to Rockport Texas.

Jason Gordon
Sort it up Seniors Brianna Stanzione and Kayci Peak sort cleaning supplies collected in the flood bucket drive. The supplies went to Rockport Texas.

“The great thing about this challenge was that it involves students from all ages as well as their parents,” Blair said. “I’m all about students being in service of others. If this was the first opportunity for some to get into volunteering we may have lit a spark that might last for years to come.”