ROANOKE, Va. – In between training sessions, Duane Ellis, owner of Elite Fitness, is helping more than just his clients.
Ellis is collecting toiletries and comfort items to donate to student-athletes at his alma mater, Lees-McRae College, located in Banner Elk, North Carolina.
“They’ve got 150 student-athletes that are displaced because of the hurricane,” Ellis explained. “They need toiletries, laundry detergent, clothes. Some people lost all their clothes.”
This weekend, some of those students will be moving temporarily into Ferrum College, while Lees-McRae works to reopen its campus.
The town of Banner Elk and surrounding Avery County were devastated by Helene, leaving the community without basic infrastructure. Lees-McRae President Lee King said that while all his students are safe, the damage made it impossible for them to remain on campus.
“When the town lost its infrastructure—road infrastructure, as well as water and sewer infrastructure—it was clear we needed to get our students off campus,” King said.
Classes have moved online through the end of the month, but the college is trying to maintain a sense of normalcy for the students.
“Our student-athletes are in the middle of their fall seasons,” King added. “And President Martin from Ferrum quickly reached out and said, ‘We have some space to accommodate Lees-McRae athletic teams if they want to come and make a temporary home at Ferrum.’ And I’m grateful for that.”
King said the Lees-McRae soccer program, cross country program, and men’s basketball team will be hosted by Ferrum. The tennis program, women’s volleyball team, and women’s basketball team will reside on the Queens University of Charlotte campus in Charlotte, North Carolina, thanks to a similar partnership with that school.
A former Lees-McRae athlete himself, Ellis hopes to fill a few more totes with donations before the displaced students arrive at Ferrum in the coming days.
“I myself have a daughter at JMU. And if something like that happened there, I just couldn’t imagine her having to go to another college and be without all her belongings and necessities. And have to just move, uproot and move somewhere else on a whim like that,” Ellis said. “We’re doing everything we can to get some items for these students and help them in any way we can.”
Ellis is collecting donations at Elite Fitness on Williamson Road on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
10 News reached out to Ferrum College President Dr. Mirta Martin, who declined an interview about the partnership, in order to keep the focus on the Lees-McRae students in need.