10/07/2024
UPDATE: Friday September 27, Hurricane Helene tore through Western North Carolina as a tropical storm. Along its path it left closed roads, flooded houses, and entire towns that have been washed away. Thankfully our facility sustained minimal impact beyond our power being out for several days. Regardless with so much devastation so close to home, so many roads being closed, and localized fuel shortages we made the decision to remain closed last week as we reached out to the local community to assist with their needs.
On Wednesday October 2, we took delivery of 20,000lbs of food and water that we had previously procured out of state and we delivered it to a community in Waynesville, NC. Since then, we've secured an additional 40,000 pounds of food and water, partnering with Element Church in Forest City, NC, to identify and distribute these supplies to the areas most in need.
Meanwhile some of our employees and staff have been serving in various ways, from volunteering with Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Relief, to working at the Rutherford County Airport unloading supplies from private planes that have been flying in from all over the country, as well as flying supplies into more remote areas such as Jackson County, NC. The amount of love poured on our community from across the country has truly been astounding!
We are opened back up this week for normal business hours despite our county still being marked “Essential Travel Only” by NC DOT. If you have an active order with us it will experience a delay although we are working hard to keep those delays to a minimum.
The road to normal in Western North Carolina is going to be a long one for so many of the people living here. This storm has been called “North Carolina’s Katrina” and from the devastation we have witnessed, tragically it seems that the loss of life and property could meet or exceed Katrina. We are determined to continue our efforts to support and restore our community as we resume our business operations.
If you would like to be a part of this and donate to Disaster Relief in Western North Carolina we would encourage you to click the link below and select the fund “Element Church Disaster Relief”. We are working closely with the guys there to identify the needs across Western North Carolina and meet those needs as they arise.
https://www.elementc3.com/giving
Further information:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/live-blog/helene-live-updates-rcna173390
https://www.facebook.com/travis.long.752/posts/10160590295103152
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4oZgXa7Dt8&t=110s
