INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - Hoosiers of all ages are reaching out and trying to help victims of Hurricane Harvey. Students at Westfield Middle School are helping students in the community of Westfield, Texas.
In Vince Brooks' class, there is no ignoring the catastrophe.
"Research some of the events happening right now in Houston," he told his students.
It took a minute of computer searching for them to find answers.
"The Coast Guard has rescued 3,000 people," one student announced.
"Hurricane Harvey has inflicted...$22 billion in damages," said another.
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"People are using everything they can to float above the water to stay alive," added a third student.
Perhaps no seventh grader was paying more attention to the news than Nate McCoy.
"I have family down there," he explained "So it is really scary, 'cause I don't know if they are hurt or not right now."
"We are going to look outside ourself at ways we can help," Brooks announced to his students.
Another teacher, Bill Fleer, came up with the idea.
"I am the head of the bucket brigade," he said with a big smile as he held up an even bigger green donation bucket.
Fleer was overwhelmed by the unending images of suffering and destruction and asked himself a question: "Is there a Westfield Texas?" he said. "Could we help a specific community? Could we reach out and become partners?" From Westfield High School near Houston, Texas came an enthusiastic "Yes."
But students and teachers in the Texas Westfield are still trying to figure out what they're going to need to get through the storm.
"They haven't gotten that far. It's still raining. They are trying to help people survive," Fleer said.
Houston-area schools are closed. Westfield High School is being used to shelter some of the roughly 6,000 people who are now homeless.
So to start, the big green donation buckets will be at middle school football games.
Helping others fits in with the schools commitment to social and emotional learning.
"The biggest takeaway, I think, for the kids to learn is that compassion, how well it makes you feel to help others," Fleer said. "Hopefully these lessons will carry through a lifetime."
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Nate hopes he and his classmates can make difference to students and teachers in Westfield, Texas.
"Like help them, encourage them to say, like, 'You can keep on going. You can do this'," he said. "We could help them rebuild their community and be stronger."
The drive to fill green buckets with cash right now is limited to the middle school. Organizers hope the fundraiser grows to include all of Westfield's schools.
