FORT WASHINGTON, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A Montgomery County school district hit hard by the remnants of Hurricane Ida received a helping hand from a school in Texas that it helped in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey a few years ago.
When Hurricane Harvey hit Texas in 2017, Upper Dublin High School students held a fundraiser for Kingwood High School in Houston. After Ida, Kingwood Student Council advisor Jamie Morris said her students seized the chance to reciprocate.
"We're really hoping that Upper Dublin will take these gift cards and feel the same love that we felt during Harvey," Morris shared.
Caroline Faulkinberry was an eighth grader when Harvey hit. She described that time as traumatic.
"Just seeing your home and all your things that you couldn't really save," she recalled, "just seeing it sit in that water."
After Ida, Kingwood senior Tommy Neuman said they wanted to return the favor.
"It reminded me, it took me back to Harvey. I saw the football field and how it was completely destroyed, just like ours," he said.
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Kingwood Student body president Sanjay Patel told KYW Newsradio they reached out to all their clubs and raised money to buy gift cards that they’ll be sending to Upper Dublin high school.
"It was tough for me to see that," he said. "It was similar to what we had seen four years ago during Harvey, that the buildings that we called our second homes were all just destroyed."
Morris said they plan to present the gift cards to Upper Dublin during Kingwood's homecoming next week. She recounted having to move from her flooded classroom to a new one that she had to refurnish.
"We had nothing, so it was really, really nice when I got an Office Depot gift card and I could just go buy some of those basic necessities," she said.
"Words can't express our gratitude and appreciation for all that they're doing," said Upper Dublin High School advisor and math teacher Mary Anna Swart.
Swart said eight elementary classrooms were destroyed during Ida and rebuilding elements like classroom libraries tends to come out of teachers' pockets.
"Just to know that it's built on their tragedies, our tragedies, the fact it happened to us what happened to them," she said.
Of course, the money won't pay for all that’s needed, but Faulkinberry wishes the gesture brings Upper Dublin students some hope.
"It will have lasting effects," she said, "but it'll get better."