Fresno Unified collected 40,000 pounds worth of donations for Houston victims

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno Unified School District asked families to give what they could and in less than two weeks collected more than 1,000 boxes worth of donated items for the students and staff at Houston Independent School District.

Isaac Rodriguez and his team categorized the donations and get them ready for shipment.

"Over 40,000 pounds in donations--anything from clothing water and school supplies, we have 48 pallets they're loading on two trucks today that would be going to Houston," said Rodriguez.

Since Fresno Unified cannot use public funds to pay for the shipments -- the school district needed a local company to step up. That is when Pape and DTL Transportation offered to ship the items to Houston for free.

Fresno Unified has collected a mountain of donations for those impacted by Harvey.

"When Fresno Unified came to us we knew they could budget out to get all this product that the community has collected for the hurricane victims in Houston and we said we'd love to help," said Charlie Davis, Pape General Manager.

Thanks to that generous offer -- two truckloads worth of donations will arrive in Houston over the next two to three days

"We see the impact over the news...but we don't really gravitate to how serious that is. when you get the donations and see the things that people are willing to help it really sets in that you can help somebody who has a real need," said Rodriguez.