The spirit and heart of this area never ceases to amaze us. We know this is a unique area, filled with wonderful people who would give anything they could to help their fellow resident. It’s also been obvious that generosity doesn’t just manifest itself in the adults of the region, but also the younger generation who will lead us into the future.

This past Thursday a group of 15 seniors and a counselor from Chambers Academy piled into a bus and headed to Lee County to continue to help clean up after the deadly tornado ripped through the area more than two weeks ago.

Those 15 seniors went with Counselor Emily Milford, who said the school had been working with a family to donate some clothing — however, there was a feeling that more could be done. So, instead of sitting around and waiting for inspiration to strike, they got approval from the school and went straight to work.

When the students got to Lee County, they weren’t handing out water bottles or serving food — they were cleaning up debris, pulling tree limbs and any other rubble in the way. The students didn’t ask questions about who they were helping — they just wanted to lend their ability to help.

This wasn’t just a typical day out of the classroom. Milford said those students, along with herself, worked non-stop from about 9 a.m. until they left Lee County about 1:30 p.m. to break for lunch.

It’s heartwarming for us to see the Valley area step up and provide two 53-foot semi-tractor trailers full of donations to the people in Lee County. Several first responders headed to the site as soon as the storm hit too. But there’s something extra special to see our youth wants to be involved in helping our neighbors.  It’s not about recognition — it’s about caring for the people around us.

We are proud to be members of this community, and we hope to continue writing more stories about the things that make this area so great.