Hurricane Michael tore through Florida and South Georgia, leaving miles and miles of destruction and lives turned upside down.

Thanks to Michael, Albany State University lost hundreds of trees, leaving the campus in terrible condition. When Lee Howell, ASU’s director of Facilities Management, sent out a call for help on Friday, Oct. 12, the University of West Georgia was soon to respond.

“When I put out the call to our facilities team, four volunteers stepped up and put their personal plans for the weekend aside so they could help our sister institution,” said Fred Ricketson, director of Facilities and Grounds.

Josh Garner, James Hembree, Scott Porubiansky and Sarah Pruvenok dropped everything to begin gathering equipment and loading it into vehicles that could aid in ASU’s cleanup. After a late arrival Friday evening, they were given cots to sleep on to rest up for the work that was ahead.

Working twelve-hour days both Saturday and Sunday, they helped in every way they could. With the arrival of help from other institutions, much was done to clean up the campus.

“I hope that UWG will join me in recognizing the efforts of this team who went over and above to help someone else in need,” Ricketson added. “They were right back at work Monday morning to do their jobs for us at UWG.”