SCOTTSBURG, Ind. – An FFA student might return to tornado-ravaged western Kentucky to once again provide help with the recovery and rebuilding.

Madyson Richey said she felt the need to get involved because she was once a tornado victim herself and she felt the heartbreak of the devastation two weeks before Christmas.

Eighty people in that area of the state died as a result of the massive storm. “I just can’t imagine how they felt this close too Christmas and that being the first Christmas that some kids will remember,” she said.

Richey, 17, of Scottsburg, was the driving force behind a convoy of trucks making the more than three-drive from her hometown to Madisonville, Ky., to deliver 400 round and square bales of hay to farmers.

Also making the trip were eight pallets of feed for their surviving animals. One hundred five-gallon buckets were also provided to farmers for carrying water and feed.

After telling her mother, Latonia, she wanted to do something for the victims, Richey received direction from her FFA advisor at school, Anna Hall.

Hall put Richey in touch with a former FFA student from Scottsburg who’s now an FFA advisor in western Kentucky.

Richey said she also approached family members, friends and other people she knew about donating to her cause. Word spread, which led to more giving from the community.

“This was her brain child,” Latonia Richey said.

The donations were first taken to a farm in Latonia Richey’s family outside Scottsburg and held until volunteers were ready for delivery.

Latonia Richey said the loads were carried by three semi-trucks donated for use by local businesses and four pick-up trucks pulling three flatbed trailers and one enclosed trailer.

The materials were dropped off in Kentucky at a designated site away from the worst of the devastation.

Madyson Richey said she later made her way into the community and was floored by the sight of buildings either completely gone or turned into piles of debris.

“It was just kind of unbelievable,” she said.

Richey said she plans to find out if there’s a need for volunteers come spring to lend a hand in the rebuilding. “I want to see if I can get my FFA chapter involved in maybe going down there once or twice to see if we can just do something to help out,” she said.

Richey, a high school junior, is vice president of her FFA chapter. She’s been a member of FFA since the eighth grade, but FFA has been a way of life for her practically since she was born.

Madyson said she has relatives and friends with family members who’ve been in FFA in the past.

Her grandparents’ farm has also hosted FFA events which allow children to spend time with farm animals.

For many years, Richey has also been involved in 4-H.

Her parents raise hay and 25 head of cattle at their residence, about a five-minute drive from her grandparents’ farm.

Her family also helps tend to another 25 head of cattle at her grandparents’ farm, which has about 300 acres for growing soybeans and wheat along with another 200 acres for producing hay.

After graduating next year, Madyson said she plans to attend Murray State University in southwest Kentucky to major in animal science and minor in psychology.

Her experience with children at her grandparents’ farm seems to have influenced her even more distant plans. She hopes to one day work with special needs and troubled children and allow them to spend time with farm animals as part of their therapy.

“A lot of kids don’t know what a farm looks like or don’t know where their food comes from. It always made me feel really good about bringing them out there to see stuff,” she said.