As many victims continue to pick up the pieces a week after China's deadly earthquake, some area students are banning together to help those overseas.

Students at Troy University are opening their hearts and pockets, trying to help those who have lost everything.

Shoe Ming is an international student at Troy University and says last week's earthquake hit close to home for him, literally.

"Earthquake happened in Purish and my city Shindu is center of Purish, near to the earthquake center and maybe just 16 miles," Ming said.

Ming says the earthquake rattled both his family and friends' homes and shook up his sister who was in the midst of it all. "One of my sisters was working at the 13th floor, so it's a very dangerous place. She wanted to get out of the building, but the elevator didn't work at that time so she just laid down on the ground."

Now, Ming and many other university students are coming together, raising funds for the victims.

Dr. Mary Jo Cochran, with Troy University said, "We have over 600 Chinese students and so we have been very interested in what's going on in China and how we can help our students."

Dr. Cochran says students have been collecting funds since the disaster.

She says she seen an outpour of support from all students on campus. "Troy students have embraced our Chinese students so they feel like they are apart of the American family. So, we feel like we're reaching out trying to help our family members."

And, that's what Ming and many others are trying to do, despite being a half a world away.

"The people in China right now, it's very [important], that [we] come together and go through this disaster [together] and everybody makes some help," Ming concluded.

If you would like more information on how you can help, contact Mary Jo Cochran at 334-670-3851.