Virginia Tech college students visit Augusta for spring break filled with service

Yahoo

11-03-2025

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – Local organizations are teaming up with groups from across the country to help with Hurricane Helene relief efforts.
It's homes like this that the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church is working on with the help of various groups. This time, it's a group of college students from Virginia Tech using their spring break vacation to help with hurricane cleanup.
From more than 300 miles away, to right here in Augusta.
Students will spend the next week, during their spring break, helping storm victims with debris clean up and home damages.
The effort is made possible with the partnership of The Ryan Clark Scholarship whose mission is to honor Virginia Tech shooting victim and Columbia County native Ryan Clark through community service-based scholarships.
'Everyone cannot make straight A's. Everyone cannot be a super athlete. But everyone can give back to the community without a doubt. It's free, give your heart, give your talents, everyone has one. So, The Ryan Clarke Scholarship embraces that,' Ryan Clark Scholarship Founder and mother to Ryan Clark, Letitie Clark said.
Luke Henshaw and Josh Hansell are just two of the many Virginia Tech students who volunteered their time.
'From our understanding, where we're standing is where about where the tree, one of the big trees that fell on the house fell. And it came through, I think, this window,' Henshaw said.
'All the moisture from the storm and the days to come after that, basically caused a lot of mold to form in the house and that's why the entire building had to get stripped down to the bare bones,' Hansell said.
'You can't drive through this neighborhood without seeing a hole through a roof, and a major hole through a roof,' Henshaw said.
Scott Parrish is a part of the North Georgia UMC Disaster Response team. He says this home is just one example of the work they hope to continue doing.
'We identified this home early-on as a home, and a homeowner, that needed extra attention because they were uninsured. It's an old family home that was handed down to the rest of the family and so they just needed extra help.'
Organization leaders say they want to help more families whose homes are still heavily impacted from Helene and need help getting back to a livable state. For more on how to help see the following flyer:
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