FULTONDALE, Ala. (WIAT) — Fundraising efforts are underway to help dozens of high school seniors impacted from a tornado that tore through the Fultondale community Jan. 25.

Seniors at Fultondale High School say it’s been a challenging year dealing with the pandemic and now they are devastated after the tornado impacted major parts of the high school building, so they can no longer attend class there.

Despite it all, students are banding together as they work remotely until the Jefferson County School District can relocate them to another building. To help students recover from the storm, parents Courtney Hall and Michele Vickery have organized two separate fundraisers to help provide funds for tornado victims as seniors make their end-of-the-year purchases.

They are also raising money for both juniors and seniors in need as they head to prom as well. Both Akeim Thames and Martin Smith are seniors who were not directly impacted by the storm, but they say many of their classmates are and so the community stepping up to help them in their time of need is essential.

“These fundraisers and coming together is very important because it’s like our senior year has just been taking blow after blow after blow. I think it really helps the student body and the classes after us,” Thames said.

“It’s sad to see them go through that not knowing where you will be able to sleep the next day if you’ll have a home how you are going to get where you are going. I think for the most part we are pretty strong so they are taking it well,” Smith said.

Both seniors say banding together during this time has helped keep their momentum afloat as they work to finish off senior year strong. Below you can click these Go Fund me Pages to give back to Fultondale High School students. Organizers are also collecting donations of prom dresses as well and for more information you can visit the pages as well.