Hurricane Harvey became the costliest storm on record when it slammed the Texas Gulf Coast in August 2017 with winds of around 130 miles per hour, causing at least $125 billion in damage, widespread flooding and severe economic hardship. Many LETU students come from the Texas Gulf Coast region. Their families were hit hard.
A senior civil engineering student from Houston said she found it difficult to focus on school last fall when she knew her parents’ family business—one that they had built since the 1980s—had flooded. They lost all their files, their equipment, their furniture—and their steady income.
“There was a very high chance we could not afford for me to finish,” she said. “Luckily they had enough savings to help me pay for the fall semester, but it was going to be very difficult to afford the spring semester.”
That’s where the LETU Hurricane Harvey scholarship made a difference.
“I had been wondering what God would do to provide,” she said. “He had provided gifts from my coworkers, church, my parents’ clients, as well as my fellow students in the Honors College here at LeTourneau.”
LETU set up a Hurricane Harvey scholarship fund to provide tuition aid. To date, more than $12,000 in aid has been awarded. These funds have successfully enabled students to return this semester—students who might otherwise not have been able to continue their college education.
“The community of God has been revealed to me in a whole new way over these last several months as I have seen how so many people have trusted God and shared his love with my family,” she said. “I have learned that LETU is truly a Christ-based and trusting university—people of God who want to share his love and be a strong community to support each other.”
Families are still rebuilding. It takes time. And LETU is honored to be a part of easing the burden for our students and their families in the process. To those of you who have donated to the fund, thank you.
