Weathering the storm: OSU students help with hurricane relief

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Media Contact: Jordan Bishop | Editor | 405-744-9782 | jordan.bishop@okstate.edu

Oklahoma State University senior Coralee Castle woke up in the middle of the night and knew she had to do something.

Over the next few days, she gathered supplies, collected donations and then drove a fully loaded 28-foot livestock trailer from Purcell, Oklahoma, to the mountains of North Carolina.

Hurricane Helene had struck the Atlantic Coast in late September, leaving widespread destruction, especially in the mountains where severe hurricane effects rarely make it that far inland.

Castle, an English pre-law major with a biology minor, is no stranger to service. As an emergency room technician and a former mission trip volunteer to Haiti, her background equipped her for the challenges ahead. But the decision to take swift action at 3 a.m. didn’t come from years of training or academic preparation — it came from what she describes as a deep, undeniable call from God.

“It wasn't in the headlines like I thought it would have been or should have been,” Castle said. “And I felt God's calling, that I needed to do something. I felt like he had really put it on my heart that whole night. I couldn't sleep all night, Thursday night. Finally, at three o'clock in the morning, I knew I had to do something, and I've got to do it now. And I think God said, ‘Listen here, cowgirl, I said to do something now.’ I'm going to take that step, trust my faith and try to do the best I can with what I can.”

What began as a Facebook post seeking donations turned into an outpouring of community support, raising around $16,000. In just four days, Castle mobilized her small-town network. With the donations, she purchased supplies, including practical items like chainsaws, flashlights, diesel cans, gas cans and four pallets of animal feed — necessities she knew would be needed by both people and animals affected by the disaster.

The relief journey was logistically challenging, but Castle leaned on her rodeo background for strength. As a rodeo team member and the daughter of horse trainers, she was accustomed to driving long distances with trailers. She felt comfortable connecting with people from the Western horse industry who offered supplies and encouragement.

“I wouldn't have known how to drive a truck in 28-foot stock trailer had I not been rodeoing since I was 13, and then the truck and trailer that were both actually donated to me to use were people that I met through horses and through rodeo,” Castle said. “So without that, none of this would have come together like it did.”

The trek wasn’t easy. Finding someone to accompany her proved challenging until her brother volunteered. Together, they drove nearly 1,000 miles through the night. Once they arrived, she witnessed the devastation firsthand in towns like Swannanoa, where buildings were marked with X’s by search and rescue teams to signify they’d been cleared. She said this sight was humbling and haunting.

“To drive through there and see those X's on all of those houses was a really hard-hitting moment,” Castle said. “I've been to Haiti on a mission trip, so to see a town in the U.S., in North Carolina, that looked like Haiti did after the hurricane, and to see all of those X's on the houses was hard. That was a really hard look at what had happened and how devastated they were.”

While Castle didn’t have time to meet many residents, her encounters with rescue workers and community organizers left a lasting impression. One story of a 6-year-old girl who had been tied to her bed by her parents as a last effort to save her life resonated deeply.

“Her parents had gotten killed, and she was walking down the street, dragging that piece of that bedpost behind her,” Castle said. “That was kind of one of those call-to-action moments.”

Castle attributes every journey's success to her faith, crediting God’s guidance at each step, from her initial decision to leave to the logistics that kept falling into place. She views her role in the relief effort as answering a higher call.

“None of this would have happened without my faith,” Castle said. “All the credit goes to the God that makes these things happen. I have never felt that kind of presence and that kind of control of a situation like that before. I've gone to church my whole life, and I've been on mission trips, and you feel the presence of God. But to be on your own doing it, and to be a 21-year-old college kid. That was a big eye opener for me of how much of that he could orchestrate and take over, and how much of that he would have he had prepared for me before I even knew that I was going to go.”

Castle hopes her story reminds people of the impact they can make by answering when they’re called.

Back in Oklahoma, Castle has returned to her busy life as a student and an ER tech. But her experience has shifted her perspective, and she doesn’t rule out the possibility of further trips or service initiatives.

“My efforts to help those people, I don't think will ever stop,” Castle said. “I wake up every morning and check the news and contact my friend that lives in North Carolina and ask him what I can do from Oklahoma. 

“I don't think I'll ever really stop trying to help and doing what I can.”

Oklahoma State University sophomore Corbin Lacy turned a casual conversation during a haircut into a coordinated disaster relief mission, mobilizing his fraternity and the Stillwater community to help victims of Hurricane Helene in Butler, Tennessee.

The relief trip was inspired by a conversation between Lacy and his longtime hairstylist, Mika Webb of Blush Beauty. 

“We were just talking about how it's hard to do stuff when you're in Oklahoma, 16 hours away,” Lacy said. “And I have the resources. I own a lawn business, and so I know how to do that kind of stuff, like taking down trees, using chainsaws and stuff like that. And after talking with her further, I said, ‘You know what, I can probably get a group of FarmHouse guys to go up there and we can help them out.”

Drawing from his experience running Lacy Lawncare, Lacy said he felt confident he could gather the necessary tools and manpower to make an impact. He sent a message to his fraternity’s GroupMe chat, proposing the trip. By the end of the night, had a group of 20 volunteers eager to participate. They settled on 15, and with the financial support of Lacy Lawncare and Blush Beauty, they were able to cover travel and lodging costs.

Within days, Webb launched a GoFundMe campaign that brought in over $21,000, which Lacy used to purchase supplies from local stores. The crew left Stillwater with four vehicles, including three trucks and a Yukon towing three 6-by-12-foot U-Haul trailers, each packed to capacity with donations.

Upon arrival in Butler, Lacy’s group met with residents whose resilience left a deep impression. 

“It was cool because there were a lot of volunteers with kids and older people, and they were all in super high spirits when we unloaded the trailers.” Lacy said. “They wanted us to sing with them. We sang the Oklahoma State theme song, ‘Friends in Low Places’ and then they sang ‘Rocky Top’ for us. Everybody was still in really good spirits, even after seeing what happened to them, and it was super uplifting.”

The team’s tasks included clearing fallen trees, removing wood floors damaged by flooding and tearing down walls in a cabin-style home. The physical labor was demanding, especially when dismantling thick, nailed-in wood floors, but Lacy said the camaraderie and shared mission kept spirits high. 

“Having guys that care about this and just being with them the whole time and knowing that we're all there for the same reason, I think everybody really enjoyed it,” Lacy said. “Hard labor work can be very boring from my experience owning a lawn business, but having guys that you know and that are enjoying it and you're doing it for the right reasons, it made it way more enjoyable. We were all talking about how we wish we could have been there for a whole week.”

Witnessing the destruction firsthand impacted Lacy’s view on natural disasters. 

“It makes you realize that it actually is a lot worse than you think,” Lacy said. “In Oklahoma, pretty much all we have is tornadoes. It's bad, but it's nothing like that. Knowing that people are actually affected a lot worse than you'd think, it just makes you want to help even more after going there once. We were all talking about how we already want to go again.”

Lacy hopes the OSU community will establish an organized disaster relief team that is ready to respond to similar needs. He believes OSU students could make a powerful impact if they had a year-round supply fund and disaster-preparedness organization. 

“Offering vehicles and different things like that, and just willing to go and help, I think would look great for OSU, as well as helping the community,” Lacy said.

As he prepares for future semesters, Lacy hopes that more OSU students will be inspired to help others, knowing that their skills and resources can bring relief to communities in crisis. Lacy expressed gratitude to everyone who supported the effort.

“I just want to thank all the donors that were able to donate, as well as the people that brought supplies and dropped them off,” Lacy said. “There was really nobody negative about this, and everybody was just up and willing to help on such short notice.”

Story By: Mak Vandruff | mak.vandruff@okstate.edu