Costa Mesa’s Whittier Elementary finishes gathering supplies to help Houston’s Whittier Elementary

It’s a tale of two schools — one in sunny Costa Mesa and the other in hurricane-ravaged Houston.

Whittier Elementary School in Costa Mesa’s Westside wanted to help Whittier Elementary School in eastern Houston, which was devastated by Hurricane Harvey last month.

The principal of Costa Mesa’s Whittier, Scott Wilcox, heard that the other Whittier’s school supplies were ruined.

So the PTA at Costa Mesa’s Whittier went full force to help the struggling Texas school.

After school started Sept. 5, local PTA parents began gathering supplies to donate to Whittier in Houston.

On Monday morning at the Costa Mesa campus, they assembled the last donations. After a week, they had gathered about 30 boxes of supplies, including backpacks, notebooks, crayons, pens, glue sticks and pencils.

Clubs at Newport Harbor High School are covering the cost to ship the boxes to Texas.

Though it’s important for children to learn reading, writing and arithmetic at school, “giving and being part of society are also extremely important,” Wilcox said. “This is a great way for them to learn.”

According to the Washington Post, 70% of Harris County, which includes the Houston metropolitan area, was under water at one point and nearly every school in the Houston Independent School District, which includes Whittier Elementary, was damaged. Many students there started returning to school Monday.

Lincoln Elementary School in Newport Beach also is helping Texas by collecting gift cards and school books to give to Betty Sue Creech Elementary in Katy, west of Houston.

Early College High School in Costa Mesa is donating money to the American Red Cross to help with hurricane relief in Texas and Florida. And a fundraiser at Raising Cane’s restaurant in Costa Mesa is scheduled for Sept. 20.

bradley.zint@latimes.com

Twitter: @BradleyZint