Townsend Fire Department collects donations for area hit hard by Hurricane Helene
TOWNSEND - Despite being thousands of miles away, people in Townsend, Massachusetts are pitching in to get relief supplies to people impacted by Hurricane Helene. Within hours of posting the idea on social media, the donations were stacking up at the fire department.
Townsend Fire Chief Gary Sheperd and his department are collecting items to be sent to the storm ravaged region of Western North Carolina.
"Imagine that all the stores are just wiped away and you can't get down into other areas where there are products," said Sheperd. "What we are going to bring we will bring right into that area."
Donations to be sent to North Carolina
From now until Thursday afternoon, donations can be dropped off at the Townsend Fire Department. They are looking to collect necessities like nonperishable foods, bottles of water, baby clothes, diapers, and female hygiene products. All of it is set to be delivered to local agencies in Avery County, North Carolina. The area sits just north of Asheville and is one of the hardest hit communities following Hurricane Helene.
Brian Shanley lives in Hickory, North Carolina and is roughly a three-hour drive from the Tennessee border. Shanley said there is damage almost everywhere in between.
"Immediate need for necessities"
"Asheville, Waynesville, all of the places we know of are still very, very bad. Completely underwater, loss of power, unaccounted for people just no connection getting through," Shanley said. Most of the region is still without phone or internet service, while grocery stores and gas stations are either out of service or out of products. The immediate need for necessities is great.
"So, if they're on well water, they can't drink that, or they can't filter water because they have no power to boil water," Shanley said. "And then just non-perishables, because they have nothing that can even keep anything in their fridge fresh."
The Townsend Fire Department held a similar drive two years ago and sent a truck full of resources to Florida. Chief Sheperd hopes his community, and those nearby, will do the same again.
"We are lucky in a way that it wasn't us, but we have a responsibility as Americans to support our family our friends our neighbors even when they are in another part of the country and that is all we are trying to do," said Sheperd.
