GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — High School students at Southern Guilford High School learning how to become first responders are collecting donations that will be delivered to those impacted by Helene in western North Carolina. The teacher leading the charge has been on both sides of disaster relief. Her personal experience inspired her students to launch a donation drive. “I'm just glad that we were able to do all this right. That's the best part," Southern Guilford High School EMT and Public Safety student and assistant chief Jada Smith said. SGHS students in the EMT and public safety class are organizing the donation drive for western North Carolina. Students and community members have shown their support by giving a large number of donations ranging from hygiene products, food, water, dog food and items for babies. “We've received ... a lot of essentials, and it's just good knowing that the people here are willing to help and that they also care. That means more than anything,” Smith said. The students were inspired to help after learning that their teacher Briton Wertz had experience being on both sides of disaster relief. As a paramedic and firefighter, she has been deployed to hard-hit areas. When living outside of Emerald Isle, she and her children lost all of their belongings in Hurricane Florence in 2018.  "I was at the fire department ... for three days. It was raining inside my home, but there wasn't anything we could do about it. We were there, and there were 911 calls. We couldn't respond because we couldn't get to people. It was it was terrible. I showed them the footage from the inside of my house,” Southern Guilford High School EMT and Public Safety Chief Briton Wertz said. She is stressing to her students that any bit of help can make a difference for storm survivors. She remembers donations brought her comfort after Florence. “In Florence, the greatest comfort for me was a clean, dry pair of socks ... It's something that you don't think about," Wertz said. She packed her car full of donations for her to deliver to storm survivors in western North Carolina. Her students are also learning how first responders like EMTs respond when aiding in disaster relief. “As first responders, it's our nature to help ... The hardest part is everyone knows that there was a disaster ... Access to the areas is often the hardest part, and it has to be a very structured response to make sure that the communities are safe but also the responders are safe because we just want to be there,” Wertz said. Wertz will be heading up to western North Carolina on Saturday morning to distribute the items collected.