SE: K-State Fans Donate 46,000 Pounds of Items in Harvey Relief Effort
Sep 06, 2017 | Sports Extra, Athletics
Before last week, Gladys Pryor's only experience with K-State was watching the Wildcats play football against Baylor, where her husband went to school. Before last week, Pryor was faced with a problem, one K-State's fan base answered emphatically.
Pryor works as the Director of Community Initiatives for United Way of Greater Baytown Area & Chambers County, a suburb of Houston, Texas, that was significantly impacted by Hurricane Harvey.
While support had poured in from across the country, Pryor said the majority of it funneled to the actual city of Houston. The surrounding areas, however, still needed supplies and they needed them as soon as possible.
For Baytown and its surrounding area, this is where K-State entered the picture.
Last weekend, K-State fans donated about 46,000 pounds of items — mostly cleaning supplies, children's clothing, school supplies and kids' backpacks — that were packed by Wildcat student-athletes into the football team's semi-truck. John Brown, facility maintenance supervisor for K-State Athletics, and Zach Fleener, a K-State graduate and former equipment manager for the football program, drove the truck to Baytown, roughly a 14-hour trip one way.
"We never expected something like that. Our communities are not big cities so whenever we heard that K-State is coming with a truckload of items to help, our community was just so happy about that," Pryor said. "The fact that K-State was able to put their eyes to our area was such a blessing to our community."
From the donations, Pryor said they were able to fill 17 trucks and SUVs, along with some trailers, which branched out to 11 different supply pantries in Baytown, Highlands, Mont Belvieu, Anahuac, Winnie, and southern Liberty County. From there, she said about 35 pounds of items will be given out to around 1,300 different families.
"For people to not have any association to a small town like Baytown, to a small area like Chambers County, and to give was just unbelievable. It blessed so many homes in our area. I really am just kind of speechless on the whole situation still," Pryor said. "The fact that people in another part of the country could be so moved to give out of their own pockets, to go buy material, it was just incredible to see and we are so incredibly grateful to the K-State family."
The items arrived at a crucial time period as well, Pryor said, as homeowners are beginning to get rid of all the carpet and furniture, ruined from the severe flooding, to avoid the growth of toxic mold.
"All of the cleaning supplies — the gloves, the masks, everything that K-State fans provided — will go directly to the homes in order to get that stuff out so they don't have to worry about health issues later," Pryor said.
With most schools starting up around this time, Pryor said a large portion of school supplies and clothing, including some that were recently donated through an annual United Way campaign, was lost to flooding as well. The items donated by K-State fans will go directly to various school districts in the Baytown area to help alleviate some of that burden.
"Most people don't store that kind of stuff up high, and with people having four to six feet of water in their home, clothes were ruined, school supplies were ruined. As we all know, school supplies are not cheap. That stuff is expensive, especially for our low-income families," she said. "We want kids to be stable and have the materials that they need in order to grow. It's nice that kids won't have to worry about not having materials for school while they're there. That was such a blessing."
More than 80 K-State student-athletes volunteered to help load the truck between two four-hour periods on Saturday and Sunday. Every sport that could possibly have an athlete there was represented, with some coming directly from workouts and a handful of cross country runners volunteering as soon they returned from their season-opening competition on Saturday in Wichita.
"I'd say Kansas State student-athletes are the hardest working people you're ever going to meet. I think they completely understood the necessity for this to happen. Everybody I talked to, it wasn't even a question to them of whether or not they were going to do it. It was just when they were going to do it," K-State track and field's Mitch Dixon said. "I think the student-athlete base completely rallied around this idea and it was amazing to see that there was such support across the board. We all agreed that this was something that needed to be done."
"Honestly, it was just very humbling. It was a really cool experience to see how many donations there were," added K-State baseball's Kasey Ford. "I think that speaks volumes for our athletic department because it just shows why we represent the family characteristic here at K-State."
The real praise, all agreed, goes to the Wildcat fans that took time out of their day and money out of their pockets to support a group of people they have no affiliation with.
"It was awesome because we never had a second of rest," said Dixon, who was drenched in sweat after his session of loading the truck. "We'd get something on there and then 30 more people would be showing up with more school supplies or more bleach than you're ever going to need in your entire life. It was awesome to see how much the K-State community supported this."
"Everyone in Manhattan chipped in," added Ford. "It was really cool to see a bunch of fans, a bunch of citizens of Manhattan, just come and drop off what they had."
From start to finish, Pryor said K-State's effort to help left her "speechless."
"It really speaks to the character of the K-State family. I know you guys consider yourself a family, so for you to open your homes and your hearts to us was just incredible," she said. "You have a whole lot of Wildcats out here now."
Pryor works as the Director of Community Initiatives for United Way of Greater Baytown Area & Chambers County, a suburb of Houston, Texas, that was significantly impacted by Hurricane Harvey.
While support had poured in from across the country, Pryor said the majority of it funneled to the actual city of Houston. The surrounding areas, however, still needed supplies and they needed them as soon as possible.
For Baytown and its surrounding area, this is where K-State entered the picture.
Last weekend, K-State fans donated about 46,000 pounds of items — mostly cleaning supplies, children's clothing, school supplies and kids' backpacks — that were packed by Wildcat student-athletes into the football team's semi-truck. John Brown, facility maintenance supervisor for K-State Athletics, and Zach Fleener, a K-State graduate and former equipment manager for the football program, drove the truck to Baytown, roughly a 14-hour trip one way.
"We never expected something like that. Our communities are not big cities so whenever we heard that K-State is coming with a truckload of items to help, our community was just so happy about that," Pryor said. "The fact that K-State was able to put their eyes to our area was such a blessing to our community."
From the donations, Pryor said they were able to fill 17 trucks and SUVs, along with some trailers, which branched out to 11 different supply pantries in Baytown, Highlands, Mont Belvieu, Anahuac, Winnie, and southern Liberty County. From there, she said about 35 pounds of items will be given out to around 1,300 different families.
"For people to not have any association to a small town like Baytown, to a small area like Chambers County, and to give was just unbelievable. It blessed so many homes in our area. I really am just kind of speechless on the whole situation still," Pryor said. "The fact that people in another part of the country could be so moved to give out of their own pockets, to go buy material, it was just incredible to see and we are so incredibly grateful to the K-State family."
The items arrived at a crucial time period as well, Pryor said, as homeowners are beginning to get rid of all the carpet and furniture, ruined from the severe flooding, to avoid the growth of toxic mold.
"All of the cleaning supplies — the gloves, the masks, everything that K-State fans provided — will go directly to the homes in order to get that stuff out so they don't have to worry about health issues later," Pryor said.
With most schools starting up around this time, Pryor said a large portion of school supplies and clothing, including some that were recently donated through an annual United Way campaign, was lost to flooding as well. The items donated by K-State fans will go directly to various school districts in the Baytown area to help alleviate some of that burden.
"Most people don't store that kind of stuff up high, and with people having four to six feet of water in their home, clothes were ruined, school supplies were ruined. As we all know, school supplies are not cheap. That stuff is expensive, especially for our low-income families," she said. "We want kids to be stable and have the materials that they need in order to grow. It's nice that kids won't have to worry about not having materials for school while they're there. That was such a blessing."
More than 80 K-State student-athletes volunteered to help load the truck between two four-hour periods on Saturday and Sunday. Every sport that could possibly have an athlete there was represented, with some coming directly from workouts and a handful of cross country runners volunteering as soon they returned from their season-opening competition on Saturday in Wichita.
"I'd say Kansas State student-athletes are the hardest working people you're ever going to meet. I think they completely understood the necessity for this to happen. Everybody I talked to, it wasn't even a question to them of whether or not they were going to do it. It was just when they were going to do it," K-State track and field's Mitch Dixon said. "I think the student-athlete base completely rallied around this idea and it was amazing to see that there was such support across the board. We all agreed that this was something that needed to be done."
"Honestly, it was just very humbling. It was a really cool experience to see how many donations there were," added K-State baseball's Kasey Ford. "I think that speaks volumes for our athletic department because it just shows why we represent the family characteristic here at K-State."
The real praise, all agreed, goes to the Wildcat fans that took time out of their day and money out of their pockets to support a group of people they have no affiliation with.
"It was awesome because we never had a second of rest," said Dixon, who was drenched in sweat after his session of loading the truck. "We'd get something on there and then 30 more people would be showing up with more school supplies or more bleach than you're ever going to need in your entire life. It was awesome to see how much the K-State community supported this."
"Everyone in Manhattan chipped in," added Ford. "It was really cool to see a bunch of fans, a bunch of citizens of Manhattan, just come and drop off what they had."
From start to finish, Pryor said K-State's effort to help left her "speechless."
"It really speaks to the character of the K-State family. I know you guys consider yourself a family, so for you to open your homes and your hearts to us was just incredible," she said. "You have a whole lot of Wildcats out here now."
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