By Lorenzo Salinas

l.v.salinas@panews.com

Southeast Texans continue to do good deeds for the community after Harvey flooded the area with unprecedented levels of rain in August—the month Port Arthur schools were set to start their new school year. Luckily, more than a few organizations decided to step up and help students with relief efforts after the storm settled.

TV reporter and real estate agent Vanessa Holmes teamed up with Pat Holmes Real Estate and The ITEX Group to donate school supplies to students and teachers who suffered losses as a result of Harvey. The drive was called Pack the Bus Harvey Relief Drive and was held in the parking lot of Pat Holmes Real Estate in Port Arthur.

“So many students and teachers were left with nothing but the clothes on their backs after Harvey, we just wanted to reach out and help,” Holmes said.

Holmes, a Port Arthur native and graduate from Thomas Jefferson High School, recalled how difficult it was to see so many people calling out for help on their social media sites and KBMT-12’s own media.

“We were on air when Harvey hit,” Holmes said. “And there were so many phone calls and messages from people calling for help—screaming for help—and thousands of Facebook messages coming through, and we couldn’t help them.”

Holmes recalled how she would get on Facebook and tell those affected by the storm to “hang in there and don’t give up.”

“And when I’m able, I’m going to help you,” Holmes said.

As a result, she and Holmes Real Estate and ITEX got together to provide some measure of relief to Port Arthur’s students and faculty who were hit the hardest.

“We have all this support, I want to take care of the kids,” she said.

It wasn’t the first back-to-school drive for ITEX’s Linda Cox-Burton either; she was volunteering at Thursday’s drive.

“Every year we do large back-to-school drives for students,” Cox-Burton said of ITEX.

“We supplied just over 600 students in August.”

“We just want to make sure the kids are OK,” Holmes said. “Everything here goes to PAISD.”