ODESSA, Texas —
Odessa resident Angela Vanderburg's garage burned down last month on Aug. 20 due to a plane crash.
On Sunday, Vanderburg’s friends and community were doing their part to raise money to help her out by putting on a bike and car show at Corky’s Bar and Grill in Odessa.
“I expected people to reach out and offer their condolences and stuff, but I never expected for the entire community to rally together like they did... I'm just overwhelmed with gratitude, incredibly grateful,” Vanderburg said.
Casey Brem, who co-organized the event, had been friends with Vanderburg’s for years and when she originally heard what had happened to her she didn’t think twice about stepping in to lend a hand.
“Ray reached out to me and said, hey, let's meet at Corky's. We're going to get this together. We're going to do something. I'm really good friends with her dad. My dad and her dad, they’re friends. Mike is always doing everything for all of us and so we got together and it's time to do something for them," Brem said.
The Permian Basin has always been known to have a culture of giving back to others, so Brem wasn’t surprised when she saw the amount of support for Vanderburg and the event.
“I know this community is a great community. I actually came from Midland, so we have some Midland people over here to supporting them because it's a good cause. They're good people, even when they're going through it, they think about other people and doing something for other people before themselves. So why not get together for a great cause for them?,” Brem continued.
Vanderburg says she hopes to move back into her home in a couple of months after some repairs and cleaning and that all this community support has left the impression on her.
“Seeing all of this come just for me, yeah, it has definitely inspired me to want to reach out more and offer what I can when I'm in the place to be able to,” Vanderburg said.