Hokies help with hurricane cleanup in Giles County

We're at Eggleston Springs, campground in Giles County, Virginia, and today we're basically working to clean out a lot of debris left over from the floods. There are some folks who live here permanently. The owners their home is flooded as well as this is their business. So obviously, we want to make sure that we can do whatever we can to help them with anything that they might need to get back off off the ground. We came out yesterday. We had about ten volunteers, and we'll be out next Thursday again with hopefully around 18 volunteers. At VT Gage, what we care about most is community identified needs. Meeting the needs that they identify and just being wherever they need us. I haven't seen anything like this before. I know a lot of people are struggling in the area right now, and I rather give back than sit back at home and watch the news. I'm from the other side of the country, but I really think I'm spending my monumental years of my life in this, like, community. A lot of people have been affected by this, and I'm very grateful that while I was living in Blacksburg, I wasn't damaged, but a lot of people are. So it's better to get back to community. I'm gonna repurpose this one. I'm actually part of a service organization, Land DOM. When we knew this area had been hit with the storms and everything. I was really trying to be able to come out here and help and just kind of give back because stuff like this doesn't happen where I'm from, and so you see all of it on the news, and when it actually affects the area that you're in, and the people that you know it hits a lot closer to home. It's the right thing to do. It feels good. It's knowing that you're doing something good, knowing that you're helping people who are struggling. It really puts a lot of things into perspective. I think that it just shows what Hokies are all about, which is being beyond just themselves. It's not hard to lend a hand where it's needed or to join proofs like ours. I think it speaks a lot to the community in the students at Virginia Tech, that they're willing to come out here, and they're willing to take time out of their day on a school day to just give back to the community and it's made me think I picked the right choice of coming to school here.