MFISD students remember Harvey isn't over for victims

Submitted by highlander1 on Tue, 09/12/2017 - 1:42pm

Contributed

Staff of the Bay City Independent School District (BCISD) keep up students' spirits following flood. High and dry in the Hill Country, Marble Falls High School has adopted those Matagorda County schools to help with recovery.

The Marble Falls High School Student Council and National Honor Society students have adopted families attending schools in Bay City Independent School District (ISD), following news that many of Bay City ISD’s families lost their homes following a mandatory evacuation order during the Harvey flooding and devastation this week.

“We chose Bay City because it is similar to Marble Falls,” said MFHS National Honor Society sponsor Kimberlee McLeod. “I still have contacts there and know what the needs are and because it is an effected area that isn’t getting a lot of attention. We’re hoping that the Mustang Nation can help the Blackcat Nation recover from Hurricane Harvey and know that they are not alone in their recovery efforts.”
You can support the efforts to help MFHS’ adopted schools beginning at the Mustang vs. Burnet Varsity Football game, today, Friday, Sept. 8, at 7:30 p.m. at Mustang Stadium. The MFHS National Honor Society and Student Council will be collecting monetary donations and donations of items like baby items, cleaning supplies, ready-to-eat foods, hygiene products and toiletries, and paper goods. The NHS and StuCo collections will start at the Burnet game, but continue throughout the year.

I want to help because I have been in their situation,” said MFHS senior Jalashawn Ford. “I understand how hard it is to suddenly have everything you know washed away!”

Families in Bay City, like many in the Texas Gulf Coast, have folks evacuated to shelters, wondering how they are going to feed their families when they return. Even after they return, many will still not be able to return to their jobs immediately as most businesses remain closed.

Some will be out of their homes for an undetermined period. This means many Bay City parents are not bringing in wages during this time and most live paycheck-to-paycheck. With 70 percent of the Bay City ISD families qualifying as economically disadvantaged, many have lost belongings and don't have funds to replace what they need.

“Sometimes, when the news is overwhelmed with depressing events happening every day, no matter how kind-hearted a person is, we become callused to tragedies we see happening around us,” said MFHS senior Kassidy Reitan. “It would really be a great experience to help those in need, put a smile on their face, and remind me that it is a constant blessing to have food, shelter, water, and a school standing to attend for senior year.”

Bay City has created an online donation center as another option for donations. A bitlink to the site is http://bit.ly/2gHPwDT.

District-wide efforts

The high school is not alone in the Marble Falls Independent School District (MFISD) in Harvey relief efforts. In a quarterly presentation to the Marble Falls City Council on Tuesday, Sept. 5, Superintendent Chris Allen said all seven campuses are participating.

“Just today, we enrolled 12 new Hurricane Harvey evacuee students ,” he said. “We expect more. Two districts have closed their doors permently. In other districts, some will want to go back, some may go back and realize it is harder than they thought and some may decide they like it here and stay.”

“There are about 50 families at Inks Lake State Park in the Burnet Consolidated ISD, but we have told the district we have room here, especially at Highland Lakes Elementary School in Granite Shoals,” Allen said.

“So many people have called asking for student volunteers or for students to be involved in some way that we have connected each campus with a group doing relief work,” he explained. “We did this in the district I was serving after Hurricane Ike.

“My heart goes out, especially to seniors losing all the memories you hope for in your senior year.”

Like the high school, Falls High School and Marble Falls Middle School will be planning their own efforts. Other MFISD campuses and the groups they are working with are: