In times of tragedy, it is in our nature to help those in need. Many have reached out about ways to help those affected by Sunday's storm. Below, you will find a few suggested ways to help the DFW Tornado Relief Efforts:

North Texas Food Bank - The NTFB is collaborating with the Red Cross and Salvation Army to provide assistance to those in need. They are providing food and water to first responders and ensuring that shelters in affected areas have supplies. They encourage you to consider donating on their website at http://ntfb.org/donate, or to host your own canned food drive. Visit http://ntfb.org/cannedfooddrive to learn more on how to host a food drive.

Red Cross of North Texas - A Respite Center is open at Bachman Rec Center 2750 Bachman Drive. They are currently making plans to accept food and donations. Please follow their social media page @RedCrossNTX for updates. Additional efforts will be needed in the near future as the level of damage is assessed and debris is cleared. To volunteer with the cleanup efforts, please visit their website.

St. Vincent de Paul - Please consider donating basic household items for displaced families. Donations can be delivered to St. Vincent de Paul's thrift store located at 3052 W. Northwest Highway Dallas, TX 75220. If you are interested in making a financial donation to directly assist families, please visit their website to learn more.

United to Learn - Several local school communities, including those ESD directly supports year-round were affected. Please consider contributing to United to Learn's Tornado Relief Fund. All funds will support the emergency needs of their partner schools and their families including Walnut Hill Elementary and Foster Elementary.

• Specific support can be made for ESD parent and Kindergarten teacher at Walnut Hill Elementary, Mrs. Devonie Coble, who has the following link to help rebuild her classroom in their relocation: Coble Kindergarten Class
   
• We will continue to investigate and communicate with Walnut Hill Elementary to determine direct ways to support their relocation and recovery. As information and needs are shared with us, we will communicate them with the ESD community.

As we know, this is not a full list. However, if you know of any other efforts taking place to help with debris clean-up, stocking shelters, distributing food to first responders, etc., please don't hesitate to reach out to Director of Community Service Learning Courtney Phelps so that we may share those efforts with the community on the ESD News page and the Community Service social media account.

And a special thank you to those students who have already dedicated your time and energy this week assisting those affected by the tornados!