Perhaps Mr. Rogers’ mom said it best when she told her son that in catastrophic situations, he should always look for the helpers.
“There will always be helpers … just on the sidelines,” Mr. Rogers quoted his mom as saying. “If you look for the helpers, you’ll know that there’s hope.”
We’re watching this lesson play out in real time after Hurricane Helene tried her best to destroy our mountain neighbors in Western North Carolina (WNC). In communities nationwide, people have stepped up to help, donating money, labor and/or supplies to help pull resilient Appalachia back on her feet.
Help is coming in big ways from Mooresville, too. What began as a humble group effort here has grown to include a partnership of multiple local businesses and organizations volunteering countless hours a week to collect, organize and drive items to WNC. (Click on each photo to view.)
A partnership of Josh’s Farmers Market (JFM), Lowe’s YMCA, Sweet Dreams Mattress & Furniture, Piedmont Animal Rescue (PAR) and Freedom Connections is working with small churches and firehouses inside affected mountain areas. The market communicates with churches, farmers and others across the state, allowing it to keep a finger on the pulse of the mountains’ most up-to-date needs. These needs are posted regularly on JFM’s social media pages and are now listed at LakeNormanCares.org, a website created by good samaritans to streamline the effort even more.
Good samaritans
The website was created by a dedicated group of volunteers, including Mooresville resident Dee Neal. It provides transparency in the donation process and real-time information about WNC needs. In addition to offering the most recent list of needs, the website also includes volunteer sign-up and an Amazon wish list so supporters can purchase immediate need items and have them sent to affected areas.
“This is for long-term support through the different stages of recovery,” Neal said.
A group of women that Neal calls the “clothes-sorting angel crew” picks up donated clothing daily, taking them home, washing and organizing them and then dropping them back off to be driven to the mountains.
“These women are coming to the market and taking sometimes five bags of clothes home, getting them organized and bringing them back,” said Sarah West, a volunteer helping to connect good samaritans, nonprofits and small businesses for hurricane relief efforts.
“The connections and networking have been amazing to watch,” she said.
One recent Sunday, someone reached out to West with an urgent need in Bakersville. “A pastor called, asking for supplies like formula, diapers, plastic forks and toilet paper,” she said. “In two hours and 20 minutes, I received a confirmation text from Josh (JFM) that a load of six pallets was ready for delivery to Bakersville the following day.
Kristen Pitre is a New York native who now calls the Lake Norman area home and is still a member of a Facebook group that she calls “The ‘Mooresville Moms’ of West Islip, NY.” Kristen — and many women in the Facebook group — faced the devastation of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. So when she saw what was unfolding in WNC, she felt called to help.
An Amazon wishlist was created, and donations from West Islip began flooding in. “We worked on a list, and on the very same day, I started getting packages,” West said. “She put it out at 8 a.m. on Oct. 3, and I had packages at my house by that afternoon.”
Pitre created a Facebook page, Mountains of Hope, to allow the “Moms of West Islip” to follow their impact by seeing where their generous donations are helping.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with chills head to toe as GOD has shown up in so many ways!” West said. “This community is incredible.”
Ashley Morgan, executive director of the Lowe’s YMCA in Mooresville, has been on the front lines of the hurricane relief efforts from Day One. “I believe it’s my calling as a Christ follower and community leader — to show up, support and meet people where they are to help,” Morgan said.
“I’m so extremely proud of the Mooresville/Lake Norman community,” she added. “Watching everyone show up with supplies and asking how they can help is amazing. Our group of partners is working extremely hard to make sure every donation makes it into the hands of those who need it most and creating partnerships with churches in WNC that are so thankful for the support.”
Collaborating for a cause
As time goes on, relief efforts have become better organized. Warehouses in WNC are collection points, and then churches and fire departments serve as hubs for their communities. “Bakersville is one of those hubs,” West explained. “The pastor at a church in Bakersville can communicate back with Josh’s and say that they’re running low on certain things. This allows us to provide for a community’s specific needs.”
Locally, the efforts have become organized, too.
Lowe’s YMCA and Sweet Dreams collect community donations. Morgan and JFM’s Graham and Garrett Deweese work directly with churches and other contacts in WNC to find out up-to-date lists of needs. The market — and now LakeNormanCares.org — post that list.
Recently, one of JFM’s suppliers, Homestead Creamery in Wirtz, Va., reached out when dairy was listed as a needed item. “They had half-a-pallet of white, chocolate and strawberry milk set to expire in 7-10 days,” West said. “They called Josh and asked if they could get it to (the mountains). Josh went to pick it up and got it to a church with power so it could be refrigerated.”
That same day, six pallets “including tons of clothing,” West said, were delivered to Bakersville while eight pallets of donations (including the milk) went to Newland, along with four bushels of apples and 100 PB&J sandwiches made by a local resident “who loves to give back,” West added.
As people donate at various locations, Sweet Dreams loads the collections in its box truck and delivers to JFM, where volunteers, including Lake Norman High School athletic teams, have pitched in several evenings to sort, pack and pallet the donated items to prepare them for travel to WNC.
WNC animals aren’t being overlooked. PAR Founder Jason Benge is collecting feed for animals, including livestock, at the rescue and also picks up any animal-specific donations from JFM to haul to the mountains.
So far, the rescue has delivered around 70,000 pounds of animal supplies to the worst-hit areas in the mountains, including Burke County, Burnsville, Asheville, Spruce Pine, Marion and Rutherfordton. “The supplies are being left at handpicked drop zones and being delivered to the people that do not have ways to get it,” Benge said. “We had three vehicles running up there every day until this week and then about every other day now.”
PAR is also helping relieve mountain animal shelters so that they have space to help displaced animals in the affected areas. “We have cleared out three of the county shelters, taking in over 55 animals from those shelters to make space for the stray animals that are being found by the rescue efforts,” Benge said. (Click on each photo to view.)
The Mooresville partnership has also forged a partnership with Freedom Connections, a 501(c)3 in Mooresville that has served the underprivileged in WNC for almost two decades and is currently making trips to serve the affected areas at least twice a month, West said. “They’re a trusted name so people are donating from everywhere.”
In fact, donations are rolling into all the local participating businesses from as far away as Indian Land, S.C. A huge load of children’s car seats — enough to fill a large market pumpkin crate and then some — was recently donated, and through the partnership with Freedom Connections, the seats were donated to a pregnancy center that Helene wiped out.
Freedom Connections is also working with hotels in Mooresville to get the word out to displaced mountain guests that a community closet is open the third Friday and Saturday of the month.
The impact
Brian Hoover, a firefighter with Lake Norman Fire/Rescue, is one volunteer who drives the supplies to various High Country churches that the Mooresville group is partnering with. “A lot of good work yesterday,” he wrote recently on his Facebook page, detailing the many drops of supplies that were delivered. “In total, 12 truck trailer loads were delivered. Made a lot of connections and look forward to planning our next trip.”
Local helper Nikki Sloop shared a touching account on her Facebook page from someone who made a mountain delivery: “When we were unloading the trailer of supplies from Josh’s, the [fire] chief saw some packs of beef jerky sticks, and he was handing them out to people. A little girl was there getting supplies. He asked her if she wanted one, and she was so excited and grateful! She was so happy to have just a jerky stick. The chief went through and found her a whole sleeve to put in her shopping bag, and she couldn’t believe that she got that!”
The businesses and organizations down the mountain in Mooresville plan to help as long as it takes. “We are and will continue to accept current-needs items until the folks in the WNC mountains and our contacts in those affected areas tell us no more,” said JFM’s Graham. “The need for assistance will be there for some time, especially in the smaller, more rural communities.”
Added the Y’s Morgan: “We are in this for the long haul and want to continue the support until we get our neighbors on the other side of this devastation. So please as a community keep showing up, checking the lists we post and let’s continue being a community that shows up when people need us!”
Want to help?
In addition to following Facebook pages and websites that have been created to list needs and volunteer opportunities, donation bins are out at JFM 24/7. Please check in often as needs are ever-changing or if you feel led, sign up to volunteer and be a part of this incredible local effort!
