Helping hands: Greene residents travel to hurricane-ravaged N.C.
Three Greene County businesses are coordinating relief efforts to aid victims of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina, some of whom are still stranded without power more than two months after the storm devastated the southeast.
Employees of Kesabe Farms in Ruff Creek, Kiger Performance in Rogersville and Morris Machinery in Prosperity have made multiple trips to Mitchell and Yancey counties in the weeks since the September hurricane. Last week, Jordan Kiger, owner of Kiger Performance, and Ben and Kelley Morris of Morris Machinery and Kesabe Farms, traveled south to donate supplies and labor.
“I really wasn’t sure how bad it was until I saw some pictures and video,” Kiger said. “It was shocking to see the devastation out there. Seeing the devastation of people losing everything they had or almost everything is hard. A lot of the houses are still standing, but a lot of them are being condemned because the foundations are washed out.”
Kiger, with the Center Township Volunteer Department in Rogersville, made connections with the Newdale Fire Department in Yancey County, N.C., to help coordinate the relief project.
“We took a bunch of donations – clothes, food, diapers, anything we could take in a 6-foot-by-12-foot trailer,” Kiger said. “I took all my fire equipment and rescue gear. We unloaded the stuff and immediately put us to work.”
In the weeks since the storm, they have donated trailer loads of supplies to some of the hardest hit areas. They also took their own gear and tools to cut trees off homes, restore access to private residences, assist with search and rescue efforts and rebuild fencing for agricultural communities of western North Carolina.
The relief effort continued last week.
“There were a couple of families that needed trees cut off their properties that were still across the roads,” Kiger said. “We cut down about 40 to 45 trees. We also went with the search and rescue team with the canines. There’s a list of over 300 people in North Carolina who are still missing. We helped out to make sure the search and rescue teams could get to some of these places along the river banks and in the woods. ”
The group also worked with Rising Light Relief to help prepare and deliver more than 550 Thanksgiving meals for those still stranded in their homes without electricity and unable to get food.
“It’s hard to see people in that situation,” Kiger said. “It was nice to see their faces when they got a warm meal. These people have lived there all of their lives and have never experienced anything like this. They were really, really appreciative to have a warm meal and to have somebody to talk to.”
The crew also delivered more than five tons of livestock feed, pet food, emergency vet supplies, tools and equipment and food, coordinating with the Greene County and Washington County humane societies to take spare kennels for donation as well as additional pet food and pet toys.
Many shelters in the affected areas had to be evacuated because they were left with no water or power for months. Countless lost pets were being dropped off to overrun shelters in the counties surrounding where Helene hit, so the group transported three dogs from North Carolina back to the Greene County Humane Society to help ease the burden at the overrun shelters. Each of the three dogs, beagle husky mixes, have since been adopted.
To help raise money, Kesabe Farms raffled off an authentic Scottish Highland rug as well as 190 pounds of locally raised Scottish Highland beef.
Kiger said there could be another trip upcoming, depending on need.
“It’s getting cold down there and people are having a hard time keeping warm,” he said. “We may try to get some donations of propane, propane heaters and stuff like that and/or monetary donations. We’re in touch with a couple of companies down there which are doing free propane refills for people. We could even donate monetarily to them if we don’t go down there.”