CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – Amye Goff, an AP Biology and AP Environmental Science teacher at Clay High School, had her home severely damaged after an EF-1 tornado swept through Bradford County a little more than a week ago.
Goff told News4JAX her house was totaled.
“It was just swaying back and forth... the whole house,” Goff said. “Things were breaking... and then I got locked in the house because the doors got shifted off the frame, so I couldn’t unlock it and I live alone. So, I couldn’t get out of the door. I had to climb out of a window, barefoot, in my pajamas.”
Goff said she is thankful to be alive.
“If it would have been five minutes either way I probably wouldn’t be (alive). I don’t know if it’s all set in yet. Just to know, it’s changed everything.”
One of her students heard about what happened and stepped up.
Drew Boree, a 10th-grade student at Clay County, created a GoFundMe campaign.
“She’s such a nice person and she’s always thinking of others,” Boree said. “And I just felt like it was time for her to be appreciated and someone else to think of her. And I just kind of like helping people that are in a time of need. And it was just something that I felt like was the right thing to do.”
The GoFundMe had raised $3,330 when checked Friday morning.
“Hi, recently my teacher’s house was completely destroyed in a tornado that knocked down multiple trees, one hitting her house,” Boree wrote on the GoFundMe page. “The house moved four feet from the foundation, the ceilings are completely cracked and the roof. They will have to knock the house down completely and re-build… please help this would mean the world to her and our class!”
Goff said she was moved by his gesture.
“It takes a special person to do something like this,” Goff said. “And he’s only in 10th grade... just look at the potential that he has. He’s going to do so much. He’s going to change the world just by being him. You know? I didn’t want any of it. I was just sharing what happened and he took it upon himself to do something like this. And that’s probably what we need in this world, is people like him to do and change.”
Goff is currently staying at her mother’s house in a spare room with her two dogs. She doesn’t know what the future will hold... but hopefully, due to Boree’s efforts, the path forward will be made a bit easier.