CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – The Clay County School District is trying to give back and help dozens of employees whose lives were devastated by Hurricane Irma.
News4Jax has learned that 49 district employees either had their homes destroyed or severely damaged during the storm.
The school district organized a huge giveaway Thursday.
The 49 employees who had their homes either destroyed or severely damage, along with 40 employees from each school in the district who were recommended as needing the most help, showed up at district headquarters to get supplies and food.
"Today's another step in the rebuilding process for Clay County. As a school district, we have banded together in order to help and assist and aid all of our families," Superintendent Addison Davis said. "Our teachers, our support staff and our leaders are in a time of need."
Coincidentally, Davis has a pipeline to a lot of charitable goods, and with all the damage in Clay County, a lot of his employees need help.
Davis has another venture in life: He runs a charity for female athletes and coordinated with other charities to donate two huge tractor trailers filled with supplies.
"We accepted that last week," Davis said. "We, last week, unloaded all the donations and I’ve elected to give all the donations back to Clay County district employees in order to assist them in the rebuilding process."
The district had the giveaway structured by identifying the employees who were in the most need to go to the giveaway first, then go from there based on need.
In addition to the school district trying to help district employees, the local union -- Clay County Education Association, has on its website a message for teachers and aides about where they can sign up for help at the state and federal level.