Texas Border Business
MCALLEN, TX (October 2, 2017) – South Texas College (STC) faculty, staff and students in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity of the Rio Grande Valley were able to support Lamar State College in Port Arthur and their community following Hurricane Harvey in August.
On Sept. 16, two volunteers from STC arrived at Port Arthur loaded up with donations they had received from colleagues and students from the college. The donations were presented to Dr. Ben Stafford, Dean of Workforce & Continuing Education at Lamar.
“The Mayor of Port Arthur said the whole city was under water,” said Rey Sanchez Program Chair of Design Building Technology at South Texas College who made the trip north to deliver the donations from students. “Our fellow colleague Dr. Stafford from Lamar State College shared with us they were in desperate need of things for their staff and faculty.”
“Everyone played a role here and contributed to this trip. We are very grateful for the involvement of South Texas College. We all just wanted to help those affected by the hurricane. Every little bit of generosity can go a long way for our fellow neighbors,” Rey Sanchez said.
Rey and his wife Dr. Laura Sanchez said they were compelled to lend a helping hand, and moved forward with an outreach plan enacted throughout all campuses at STC.
Following calls and emails sent to the staff and various departments, the collections drive for donations went into effect on Thursday Sept. 14 and ended Friday afternoon Sept. 15.
“It was amazing working with all the students and staff. We were able to see how rapidly we were able to get engagement from our community on such short notice,” said Dr. Sanchez, Dean of Institutional Research and Effectiveness, and Strategic Planning at STC.
Through partnership with Habitat for Humanity, the Sanchez’s spent their weekend in Port Arthur delivering the many in-kind donations that were collected in less than a day and half.
“We were so grateful that Dr. Sanchez and Mr. Sanchez came down and brought the material for us. We have set a room specifically for faculty and students who were displaced by the storm to come by and get those materials,” said Dr. Stafford. “It has been an enormous resource. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate that your hearts went out to us and you made this long trip to be a resource to us in this time of tragedy. It has been a benefit to both our faculty and students as well as a relief to us all over here at Lamar State College.”
Items that were collected included canned foods, hygiene items, baby clothes, blankets, pillows, water, and cans of OFF spray along with other materials that were to be delivered to the homes of Habitat for Humanity
“The involvement from everyone was heart touching,” said Roxanne Conde, Manger of Habitat for Humanity Restore. “Rey Sanchez along with STC was of great assistance to us by helping to deliver the items up to Port Arthur.”
 faculty, staff and students in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity of the Rio Grande Valley were able to support Lamar State College in Port Arthur and their community following Hurricane Harvey in August.){kind=link}