JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) A high school student and his family are spearheading a relief effort in Jefferson City to help those affected by Hurricane Helene.  Xander Gunn, a senior at the Jefferson City Academic Center, first got the idea to start accepting donations for hurricane victims from his family. His parents Joespeh and Lindsey own and operate Gunn Excavation in Holts Summit. When they got wind of the devastation that Asheville, North Carolina, received from Hurricane Helene, Joseph packed up some of his equipment and traveled to North Carolina to help dig people out of the rubble. Before he left he offered up extra space on his trailer for donations. Xander’s grandmother -- who lives in Mexico, Missouri -- worked with Mexico High School to gather donations.  “I figured if we could get donations up there why not make it happen down here,” Xander said.   “Xander saw that and he was like, we can do this. ‘Can I mention to the school mom?’ I'm like, ‘Sure, you go ahead,’” Lindsey said. JCAC posted about the donation efforts and word quickly spread. Buchheit agreed to let the family while MFA also pitched in to help. "As a school of character, service is one of JCAC’s pillars, and the school is supporting Xander and his family’s efforts with donations and student volunteers to load donations from the community," Brittany Ruess Maddy, a spokeswoman for Jefferson City School District wrote. Lindsey said that word of their efforts spread so quickly, she needed to rent a bigger truck.  “We were going to pull the trailer down behind just my Yukon.  Well, then it grew and they [Jefferson City School District] called me and said, Well, how much can you take?  And I'm like, Well, I don't know. I said that the best I can do is rent the U-Haul. So I rented the biggest U-Haul we could and was flying by the seat of my pants,” Lindsey said.  On Thursday, Xander and Lindsey stood outside of a large hauler in the Buchheit parking lot collecting hundreds of pounds of supplies, including bottled water, clothes, paper towels and toys. The Gunn family will be accepting donations from the community from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday in the Buchheit of Jefferson City parking lot.  The mountain area near Ashville dipped below 40 degrees on Wednesday night. Because of this, the family says that many of the people need hats, sweatshirts and gloves. Other items they are still in need of include food, medicine, and hygiene products, specifically baby formula, diapers, and wipes. "We're bringing prayers. We're bringing everything that we can and, hopefully helping people out. There are a lot of people that need help from baby formula diapers to just canned food because they don't have anything right now. All their stuff just washed away," Lindsey said. The full list of supplies they are asking for is below: Batteries of any kind Diapers Baby wipes  Water Unopened over-the-counter medicines for all ages All types of clothing, including winter clothes Non-perishable can food Formula Hygiene products Feminine hygiene products Pillows and blankets Hats  Sleeping bags Warm socks  Gloves (latex, winter, and work) Propane, propane heaters, and propane tank refill kits for small to large tanks Chainsaws and chainsaw gas Bars, bar oil and chains  Tents  Pop-up Canopies   Dog and Cat food (wet and dry) Livestock grain Livestock medicine Thrush medicine Rain rot medicine Bug Spray Fleece blankets for kennels The post High school student spearheads hurricane relief efforts in Jefferson City appeared first on ABC17NEWS.