A recent Colorado wildfire mobilized Santa Fe students in an effort to help clean up the destruction that it left behind.

Joaquin Martinez, director of the Mountain Club at the Academy For Technology And The Classics in Santa Fe, told KRQE that the students were interested in restoring the environment.  

“The key component is service and cultural and environmental restoration,” Martinez told the station. “And really these kids are inspired to see that when something needs to be done by someone, they realize they are someone.”

According to the news station, Martinez created a GoFundMe campaign to pay for the trip and took two students with him who learned about how the wildfire ravaged communities in Colorado.

Martinez has now started a new GoFundMe campaign in hopes that students can have similar experiences where they learn that empathy can go a long way to helping communities.

“These students are learning the power of compassion in action and seeing firsthand that the power of change and love is within them; they are the future leaders that we need, and I need your help in continuing to foster their growth and strength for a future that is peaceful and healthy,” Martinez wrote. “We are all doing our part.”

Martinez added that because they are a small public school, they use donations to facilitate the trips.