Anyone could be the difference in the recovery of a community.

A small group of Kentuckians including senior Harrison Glauber gave a helping hand to a friend in a small town in Texas after it was wiped out by Hurricane Harvey.

A few weeks ago, Hurricane Harvey struck Texas costing thousands of people their houses and belongings. Glauber traveled down to Lumberton, Texas, a small city near Houston, to provide support for victims and witness the destruction of the storm. Hurricane Harvey made its mark not only on earth but the people of it as well.

Harvey made landfall in Texas August 25 and was the first major hurricane to hit the US since Hurricane Wilma. It dumped 27 trillion gallons of water over Texas, flooding most cities. “Any natural disaster such as Harvey will have a deep, negative impact on the economic and social well-being of an area like Texas,” said AP Environmental Science teacher, Kenny Hughes. Many rescue groups have met in Texas to help out with providing supplies and cleaning the streets.

Glauber spent a week in Lumberton helping out with cleanup and taking a look at all the damage. “It was devastation. The only things left of people’s houses were the frame. Every last thing inside their houses were outside in piles,” said Glauber.  The people in the small town had mostly lost everything due to the significant damage.

Lumberton is located about an hour out of Houston, so it didn’t receive a lot of help that they desperately needed. “When we heard of the friend of a friend had lost everything because their house was completely underwater and they had been forgotten about by the Red Cross and other help, we couldn’t remain idle while people were suffering,” said Glauber.

Glauber, his aunt, and his cousin brought a 20-foot trailer of supplies including about 60 cases of water, clothes, $2000 worth of supplies to work on houses (hammers, crowbars, etc.), baby food, pet food, snacks, toiletries, cleaning supplies and more. All it took was three people to impact a whole community in need.

This hurricane shook not only the gulf coast but the whole nation. It cost the US 190 billion dollars in damage and took the homes of hundreds of thousands of people. Natural disasters like Harvey really bring the nation together to help the people in need.

“It made me realize that we take things for granted and that everything can be gone in the blink of an eye,” said Glauber. Seeing the damage and realizing that what happens to these people is brutally real was an eye opener for Glauber and his group.

It will be a long recovery but with the right amount of help from the people, it will be an easy one. Hurricane Harvey will go down in history not only for its wrath, but its impact on the nation.