RELIEF: Americans raise money to help victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Hurricane Irma in Florida.
By Celesté Johanson, Staff Writer
On August 25th, 2017 Hurricane Harvey, a category four hurricane, made landfall along the Middle Texas Coast. “Harvey” caused major flooding, damaging and destroying many buildings near the Rockport and Fulton area. Electricity and water services were lost in response to this horrific disaster.
On September 10th, 2017 Hurricane Irma, another category four hurricane, made landfall in the Lower Keys and headed towards the Southwestern Coast of the Florida Peninsula. The water levels around Key West had grown two feet and the island of Haiti had almost been completely destroyed.
“The most intense I have lived in was a category two, Hurricane Wilma, and even with a two we lost power for a week and were out of school for half a month,” Kayla Sajous, a 17 year old Florida resident, said. Despite the devastation that the hurricanes caused, many residents have tried to stay calm through the recovery process. “We are okay. We have shutters put around the entire house, but I can tell my parents are trying to hide their worry from the rest of us,” Sajous said.
In response to the hurricanes, regular citizens have been asked to help. Texas Governor Greg Abbott organized a group of 12,000 people to help rebuild the buildings and help find those recovering after the disaster. People who cannot help the citizens directly have used the Internet to raise money for reconstruction. Websites like GoFundMe and organizations like the American Red Cross (ARC) are currently accepting donations.
Poly High School held a competition on Wednesday, September 6th to raise money for Hurricane Harvey victims. All fourth period classes collected donations and the top five classes got a pizza party. “Some of the classes that definitely went above and beyond, we wanted to be able to recognize them and the difference that they made,” Principal Michael J. Roe said. Overall, Poly raised a little over 3,000 dollars for the disaster relief through ARC. “I firmly believe that if you want to create more wealth in your life, the best thing you can do is give it away,” Principal Roe said.