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Senior Aly Gatwood’s family lost their home in the St. Louis floods on December 30. They have been staying with her aunt and uncle for the past eight months.

Gatwood moved to Jefferson City for a legislative internship in January. Because she had lost all of her clothes, her coworkers bought her a Target card to help her buy basics. Jill Wiggins at the Career Center told Gatwood about the Emergency Scholarship Fund, which Gatwood was awarded. She said she will use the funding to help with tuition and books, and to help her parents. She called Missouri State her “home away from home.”

“I might not have believed in the kindness of everyone but now I do, as cliché as that sounds. I’m blown away by the support of Missouri State Bears and sorority sisters,” Gatwood said. “The support from students and faculty leaves me speechless.”