>> reporter: this is how olga perez's home looked the last time she saw it, the waters cresting forcing her family out. >> i don't have my own space, i can't provide my kids their own space. 6 >> reporter: her children are still struggling to accept that everything they know is gone. >> it's hard to get it and process it through your mind that it's all gone and that you need to start from the beginning because you can't do anything about it. >> reporter: the perez family came to the school today to try and recover some of what they lost, sifting through piles of clothing and food collected by the school district within a matter of hours today. >> this is been just going on since 8:00 a.m. >> reporter: the donation center is one of the ways they're trying to help community members like the perezs. >> we had community members lining up before we opened at 9:00. >> reporter: they say the community center, closed to the press for now, is staffed with