"I wish we had more to give," Poplar Bluff Middle School student Paris Rogers said. "I hope everyone gets something."
After coming home from school upset, Rogers' mother, DaRhonda Thompson, said her daughter wanted to help the citizens of Texas after Hurricane Harvey.
"She heard people lost their lives," Thompson said. "She then asked if she could send her toys to Texas to help and started crying."
Thompson began searching for a way to donate items to Texas. While still searching, she came home to all her daughter's toys packed in their front room.
Thompson said her daughter donated every toy she had, including Barbie dolls, stuffed animals, doll houses, sports equipment as well as clothing.
Accompanying her donation, Rogers included a letter she wrote letting the citizens of Texas know she hoped they stayed safe and was praying for their families.
"She has a good heart," Thompson said. "I'm so proud of her."
Rogers said she heard on the news people in Texas didn't have anything.
"I was really excited my mom allowed me to help," she said. "I just like helping people."
Thompson came across Cassidy Robinson and her fiancé, Logan Saffle, on Facebook and noticed a post about the young couple personally taking items to Texas.
"Logan does road construction and saw trucks and boats loaded down with all kinds of supplies," Robinson said.
Wanting to help in some way, Saffle asked Robinson to start a post on Facebook announcing they would be making a trip to Texas to transport donations from the community.
"It all went from there," Robinson said.
In just two days, Robinson said the post was shared over 100 times.
Poplar Bluff Pizza Hut Shift Manager Rachel McGonigal reached out to Robinson after seeing her post as well.
According to McGonigal who resided in Texas for several years, Manager Amanda Torres wanted to involve Pizza Hut in some way and McGonigal thought the restaurant could be a drop-off location for all the donations. In addition, Pizza Hut donated 18 cases of water for the couple to take to Texas.
As part of a joint effort, Robinson and Saffle collected the donations which were held at Pizza Hut, loaded a 5x8 truck and headed for Texas Saturday, Sept. 2.
Robinson and Saffle departed Poplar Bluff realizing a lot of places in Texas were no longer able to accept donations, but knew there had to be some place still accepting and needing donations.
Sunday morning, Robinson and Saffle found Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston to donate all the items Rogers and the community had so graciously given.
Once arriving, Robinson said the group at Catholic Charities thanked them for their donations and helped unload their truck.
"I would want someone to help if we were in the same situation," Rogers said.
Also wanting to assist hurricane victims, Lee Wright helped organize a donation drop-off at Thousand Hills Cowboy Church in Fisk.
"I was looking for something to do like this since the Joplin tornado," Wright said.
After hearing about the damage to Hi-Way Tabernacle Church in Cleveland, Texas, where Charles Stoker, formally of Qulin, is the pastor, Wright knew exactly how he could help.
According to Wright, the church had about 30 inches of water in the downstairs portion, but was still able to house 60 displaced people upstairs.
Wright, Mark Morgan and Thousand Hills Cowboy Church and Emmanuel Baptist Church of Piggott, Ark., Pastor Kevin Murray set out for Cleveland, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 3, to Hi-Way Tabernacle Church with a trailer full of donations.
The 20-foot trailer was loaded with donations received in just two days.
"So many people have been here," Wright said while the group was collecting donations at Thousand Hills Cowboy Church. He estimated a couple hundred people had donated during the two days.
According to Wright, Hi-Way Tabernacle was designated the disaster site for the county and was feeding volunteers and citizens three hot meals a day.
"In one day, they went through 10 trailers of food," he said.
Items collected over the two days included cleaning supplies, diapers, personal items, toilet paper, clothing, fans, blankets, pillows and of course food and water.
Wright said two children stopped by the church while the group was collecting donations and wanted to help.
"They received an allowance of $10 a week and bought $7 worth of items for donation," Wright said. "Before leaving, the children then brought the remaining $3 to me, wanting to give all they had."
Monetary donations, Wright said, will be used for Home Depot gift cards for repairs needed at the church, including carpet, sheet rock and more after Hurricane Harvey left its mark.
"People always want to give," Wright said. "And they know these donations will be given at the church."