Advance Auto Parts donates $25,000 to EKY technology center

BREATHITT COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) - Representatives with Advance Auto Parts made a sizeable donation to the Breathitt County Area Technology Center Wednesday afternoon.

The center was ruined by flood waters in late July and lost all of its equipment. The principal said, when he was able to make it inside, it was “total devastation.”

“We didn’t know what to do, where to even start, so we just started cleaning and getting stuff out,” said principal Joe Mayabb. “[We] realized what a financial loss we had taken.”

Officials with Advance Auto Parts stepped in and donated $25,000 to the center. Officials wanted to help ease the burden of the flooding aftermath.

”The trade school is not always easy, and not every young person decides to continue that growth,” said Cody Tucker with Advance Auto. “This is a way to give back to the community on a local level.”

Mayabb said Darryl Cole, a teacher at the center, sent a letter to Advance Auto telling them about their needs.

”His temporary shop is in a parking lot right now, so we have to buy stuff that he can use in his situation that he’s in,” said Mayabb.

For students like Austin Smith, the donation will help replace lost tools they can use to further their education.

”We had so much stuff that we lost, and since then we started from scratch, we aren’t able to do as much as we could last year,” said Austin Smith.

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