Texas has created a reputation of being resilient when the state shares a common struggle and students and staff of Sam Houston State University engaged in selfless acts of kindness during the historic Winter Storm Uri.
Rolling blackouts left students without power for up to 72 hours, but sophomore mass communication major Sarah Weeks received power back after one day. After realizing that students on and off-campus were still without power, she messaged classmates and invited people over to her dorm for shelter and warm food.
“I grew up on the beach, so I’ve experienced hurricanes and flooding and long power outages without clean water and knew how to handle it,” Weeks said. “In times like those, the community is supposed to help each other. I had heat and power and food, and it would have been selfish to not share.”
Sophomore marketing major Kennedy Singleton, created a GoFundMe page to raise money for black students across Texas who are now struggling financially due to the storm. Singleton’s passion to positively contribute to the black community derives from her position as co-creative director of the dance team, Fade to Black.
“I didn’t make this GoFundMe for black students because it’s Black History Month. I did it because I am very aware of common struggles in my community and this was an action to remedy the worry and stress that has been placed upon black students,” Singleton said. “Black voices belong in every space, topic, discussion, genre and everything that comes along with day-to-day activities.”
Singleton hopes to raise $5,000, so far the GoFundMe has reached about 20% of that amount. Funds will be distributed to students who have completed the survey linked on the GoFundMe page. Currently, the survey is closed, but people are still welcome to donate.
Though this crisis has blown over, it does not mean that students are mentally cleansed of it. Assistant professor Chelsey Narvey knows that students constantly deal with highly stressful situations, so last semester she created the Supportive Student Space, a safe haven for students to engage with faculty in a comfortable and casual environment. With this passing winter storm pulling the rug from under everyone, students are welcomed to attend this virtual event for a mental and physical soother.
Though each of these heart-warming acts of kindness are different, they all unify in theme by inspiring and uplifting others.