Students Supporting the Community

 

November 13, 2024

As students prepared to return to the classroom following the campus closure from Hurricane Helene's impacts, they not only worked to help their own family and friends but also to help neighbors and community members.

HCC and Tri-County Community College students in the Nursing program were eager to start helping one another. Immediately after the storm hit, they made deliveries to classmates with supplies like diapers, baby food, paper products, water, and more. This fast response allowed classmates to remove one level of concern from the storm's impacts so they could focus more on their families before returning to the classroom. One of the shining moments of this outreach and personal deliveries was that the students took the initiative to do this on their own, showing their individual care and support for classmates.

Professional Crafts Fiber students are now on a mission to make handmade, custom blankets for the community. This idea is a great way to work on their skills in the classroom while knowing the end product will be used for a good cause. Shortly after the storm hit, Fiber instructor Amy Putansu reached out to a yarn business that was about to close its doors to see if they may have any supplies that would help with this project. To everyone’s delight, the company donated 129 pounds of wool. Students will work over the coming weeks to create these blankets and then donate them to a local organization or individual.

The Forest Management Technology program students helped the community with cleanup shortly after the storm. Their hard work ethic and skills came in handy to help locals remove downed trees, muck out houses, and backpacked food and other supplies to those who could not be reached by vehicle. Students traveled outside Haywood County to help as many community members as possible and went into counties such as Buncombe, Mitchell, and Yancey. Experiences like this help build bonds between classmates and teammates and their support was critical for the community during a time of uncertainty.

Haywood Community College is proud to have such dedicated students who understand the importance of hard work and helping the community. It’s stories like these that will bond them to our region after graduation and make them outstanding employees when their time comes to enter the workforce.