Family donates irreplaceable clothes to Sandy victims


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SANDY — We've all heard stories of Utahns coming together to donate items for victims of Hurricane Sandy. But a Sandy, Utah, family is donating something that can never be replaced.

They're donating the clothes of their son who died 6 years ago.

"I haven't been able to let go of it," said Debi Brockbank, whose son Dustin was 23-years-old when he died. "It's not serving me in any way, and he was all about serving."

The Brockbank's heard from one of the neighbors that another neighbor was gathering clothes for hurricane victims.

"We have more than we need, and felt like we could share," said Ken Brockbank, Dustin's father, "It started out, 'we'll give a couple of items,' and then we cleaned house."

Lynda Parker organized the donations. She couldn't believe the response.

"We ended up with 23 boxes of clothing," Parker said.

Parker's daughter lives in New Jersey. She says the devastation is unbelievable and people need help.

"They have nothing but what they had on when the storm hit," Parker said.

That's what struck the Brockbank's the most. They knew their son's clothing would go to someone who needed them.

"I just felt very impressed that this was the time," Debi Brockbank said. "These people are going to be freezing. They've lost everything."

Her husband agreed. He says it's exactly what their son would have done.

"Well, he would have moved everything out of the house. All the clothes, all the furniture, and all the food," Ken Brockbank said, laughing.

For them, it's not so much what they're giving up; It's what they're gaining, which is something you can't buy in a store.

"What we did is just a tiny thing, but I'm sure it's going to have an impact on people that don't have anything right now," Ken Brockban said.

Brockbank is in the transportation business and was able to ship all the boxes of clothes to the east coast on his own. The clothes are set to arrive in New Jersey Monday.

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