When local school teacher Crysta Crum, a Houston native, watched Hurricane Harvey devastate southeast Texas, she felt powerless to respond.

“I could hardly sleep,” said Crum, a fifth-grade science teacher at Potter Gray Elementary School who spent several sleepless nights checking on friends.

Now, after raising nearly $900 in donations, Crum will shop for school supplies for students in the Houston Independent School District, which starts school Monday.

“If I can help one kid not have to worry about how they are going to learn … then I feel like I’ve done my duty,” she said.

Born and raised in Houston, Crum knows what it’s like for kids in her hometown who come from challenging backgrounds. Under normal circumstances, she remembers students struggling to get school supplies when she used to teach at Whidby Elementary School. The wake of Hurricane Harvey has only added to that.

On Aug. 28, when schools were supposed to be starting back, they instead became a part of the response. Bus drivers were transporting flood victims to school auditoriums that had been converted into temporary shelters, and cafeterias were serving ready-to-eat meals, according to The Washington Post.

Although her mother’s home was spared from damage, she hasn’t been able to figure out the extent of the damage at Whidby Elementary. She imagines the worst, adding that the school would flood when it rained too hard, let alone face down a hurricane.

Crum’s reaction to the storm was intense as she followed it through her social media feeds.

“I could see my friends posting pictures or videos of their entire neighborhood under water,” or sitting in rescue boats, Crum said.

Crum is hitting up Target, shopping for pencils, paper, glue sticks, folders and binders for 13 elementary schools, two middle schools and three high schools.

Crum knows it’s a small effort for what amounts to the seventh-largest school district in the nation, but to her “it’s something that I can do.”

A graduate of Westbury Senior High School in Houston, Crum said “teaching was never on my radar.” She went on to graduate from the University of Notre Dame with degrees in sociology and computer applications and got a master’s degree in human resources.

Her career aspirations didn’t change until she started working with Teach for America and she realized “absolutely, I have to do this.”

Over the weekend, she’ll also watch carefully for Hurricane Irma as it barrels toward Florida.

“The other half of my family is in Tampa” and in Orlando, she said. “It’s one thing after another.”

As Houston recovers and southern Florida prepares, Crum is determined to keep doing what she can.

“There is always something you can give,” she said.