FAYETTEVILLE, AR – Hurricane Harvey flooded parts of Southeast Texas with more than 50 inches of rain.
Now people on campus are looking for ways to help those affected by the catastrophic storm.
Just because students are hundreds of miles away from the devastation – that doesn’t mean they can’t help.
In fact, one student who is from the area says her community can use all the support it can get no matter where it’s coming from.
“Oh yeah, I know exactly where that is. That’s driving up into Port Aransas,” Katrina Maldonado said while looking through debris pictures on Facebook.
She is a student here at the University of Arkansas and calls Corpus Christi home.
“Places that I’ve been to, to see on social media, wow, this is just, I can’t even put it into words,” Maldonado said.
Her family didn’t evacuate. Instead, they took cover in their home, where luckily only the fence fell.
“That is a blessing, a big blessing,” she said as she scrolled through the pictures of her home.
But her friend’s condo, where many high school memories were made, didn’t escape the storm as easily.
“He said its a complete loss,” Maldonado said.
Maldonado said being 12 hours away from home hasn’t made the situation any easier.
“I would say that’s one of the hardest things to see, that places I grew up in as a child just being destroyed and you can’t do anything about it, and that’s also the hardest part, that I can’t be there,” she said.
The Northwest Arkansas chapter of the Red Cross already deployed 10 volunteers. The organization encourages everyone to help
“We need volunteers, and if you’re a student you’re not too young to volunteer, that’s for sure,” said Rick Harvey, the spokesperson for the NWA chapter.
Training only takes a couple days, so students could help in Texas in the coming weeks. But for those who feel like volunteering isn’t for them, they can donate online or by texting “Harvey” to 90999.
Money donated to the Red Cross will be used to buy relief items, like water, food, batteries and cleaning supplies that will be used to help those down in Texas.
“It’s great to just kind of see, wow, it doesn’t matter the color of your skin, what race you are, what religion, just people helping people. Because everyone is in need right now, from Houston to Corpus,” Maldonado said.
The University is offering counseling services and encourages those who need to go to Texas to talk to their professors about excuses.
The Red Cross also has a club on campus and can help facilitate group donations.