BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) – Virginia Tech students are joining in on the efforts to help heal their hometowns with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
Alex Frank is a sophomore from Asheville, North Carolina.
His hometown and surrounding areas now sit destroyed, with many in the community still without water or power.
“It’s sad, like, seeing the place I grew up not really existing anymore and places I knew and loved,” said Alex.
When the storm hit and he couldn’t contact his family, he was scared something had happened to them.
“I tried calling my mom and it just went straight to voicemail. I called my sister… straight to voicemail and I called my dad… straight to voicemail. I was like, this doesn’t seem good. I was texting them all day and the next time I heard from them was Saturday morning,” said Alex.
Alex quickly knew just how bad the situation was and decided he couldn’t just sit around in Blacksburg without trying help his community.
With the help of his friend Durant Parker-Ashe, they’ve started the “Hokies for Hurricane Relief” project that consists of a GoFundMe with a $10,000 goal and donation drives.
“With the food and supply drives, anything that we get from those we want to straight up deliver. We are going to use our personal vehicles and drive down as soon as the roads were reopen and take those in,” said Durant.
Hundreds of items and thousands of dollars have already been donated to Hokies for Hurricane Relief.
Durant and Alex say they will also use the money and items donated for communities that took a hard hit in North Carolina, Southwest Virginia and other areas of Appalachia.
“It’s going to take a long time to rebuild that whole area, and we’re just going to keep fighting and keep helping the people out the best we can,” said Frank.
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