Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College holds drive to help schools affected by Hurricane Harvey

Schools offer routine and a sense of reassurance to communities, but when many schools in Texas were damaged or destroyed during Hurricane Harvey, that comfort was lost as well.

As families in the Houston area try to rebuild their lives and return to some sort of normalcy, the school districts are working their way out of the rubble too. In many locations there is an overwhelming feeling that all is lost — and that includes school supplies.

Neil Gregerson, a retention and engagement specialist at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and a Texas native, organized a school-supply drive at Arizona State University. Bins were dispersed throughout the campuses to collect supplies that will be mailed to the Humble Independent School District on Oct. 2. Even local schools pitched in: Madison Traditional Academy in Phoenix donated enough supplies to pack an SUV.

After seeing the devastation on the news, Gregerson said he knew he needed to do something.

“I thought one thing these kids will need is school supplies. Why not have a fundraiser? We are the teachers college, after all,” he said, adding, “Immediately, we all tend to think about food and toiletries to donate, but we often lose sight of the fact that these kids and teachers lost school supplies that need to be replaced.”

Gregerson attended Humble Independent School District and went on to teach journalism in the district for two years.

“I know a lot of people who still work in that district, and I know a lot of students who were personally affected by Harvey,” he said.

Humble Independent School District has 43 campuses, more than 40,000 students and more than 5,000 employees. Gregerson says his high school — Kingwood — was severely damaged by the flood and will not reopen for the school year while it is being restored.

Written by Meghan Krein, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College copywriter