Mid-Michigan Students Get Insight Into Hurricane Sandy Relief Efforts

Posted: Nov 08, 2012 2:55 PM EST

FLINT TOWNSHIP (WJRT) –
(11/08/12) – Students at several Mid-Michigan schools are getting unique insight into disaster relief efforts on the East Coast this week.

Greg Martin is the founder of DRAW- Disaster Relief At Work. He just returned from New Jersey, where he and about a dozen others spent five days helping Hurricane Sandy victims.

“It was unbelievable. It breaks your heart every time after a natural disaster because these are real people going through real things,” he said.

In January, Martin left his Monday-Friday job for what he calls his true calling – to help disaster victims. That’s when he founded DRAW.

But Martin’s work isn’t limited to disaster zones. Since he returned from the East Coast Tuesday, he’s been sharing his experience with students in Mid-Michigan schools.

“Anyone can help. It’s a narrative of wanting to be responsible for your neighbors, so if someone is going through something, you don’t want to sit and watch them feel bad, you pitch in where you can,” he said.

“It was fun and also interesting to know what he does and how he gave up his regular job to go help others,” said student Andrew Stephenson.

Some students say they are inspired to follow Martin’s example.

“I wanted to be older so I could volunteer, that’s why I kept asking him what age and are they going to change the age,” said student Kinja Wilson.

“In two classes, I’ve had a handful of them say ‘Can we go? How old do we have to be to go? When can we go? What can we do to help?'” Marin said.

But Martin says the true lesson at Carman Ainsworth Middle School is this – just a little goes a long way.

“With DRAW, we try to get a lot of entry points of students of any age or older can be a part of it. Whether it’s filling buckets with supplies that we take out or raising awareness,” Martin said.

“I’m going to ask my dad to see if he can order some buckets, that’s why I wrote down the website,” Wilson said.