Southpointe woman organizes holiday toy drive for children affected by Hurricane Helene
Courtesy of Jennifer McIntyre
For Jennifer McIntyre, Hurricane Helene hit close to home, as her mother and two sisters live in or near Hendersonville, N.C, which was impacted by the storm.
While her family members are safe, the Southpointe woman decided to collect items such as paper products, food, insulin, pet products, wheelchairs and medicine for those in need.
“Within 10 days, we filled an entire warehouse,” McIntyre said recently. “I was blessed enough to help several families.”
While McIntyre was visiting her family, a thought occurred to her.
“These people aren’t even thinking about it yet, but how are they going to cope with the holidays?” she said. “This isn’t getting any better. They’re still having major distribution issues. Basic goods are still hard to get sometimes, let alone figuring out how you’re going to have Christmas for the kids.”
With that in mind, McIntyre is leading a toy drive for the children of North Carolina impacted by the hurricane.
“We do Toys for Tots every year, but I want to make it much more specific,” she said. “I want to make sure the truck or trucks that we’re loading physically go down to those affected areas.”
Clean, unwrapped toys are being sought, as well as winter clothing items, including new hats, gloves and coats in any children’s size.
Anyone who wishes to donate can drop items off at Keystone Clearwater, where McIntyre works, at 6 Four Coins Drive, Canonsburg; the Library Volunteer Fire Company, 6581 Library Road, South Park; Crown Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, 1490 W. Chestnut St., Washington, and Richard Goettle Inc., 2100 Corporate Drive, Wexford. Other organizations helping include The Association of Desk and Derrick Clubs, Kids Excel with Pets Inc. and Appalachian Angels, McIntyre’s charity.
So far, the response has been good.
“My gut instinct is that we’re going to fill that initial 53-foot tractor-trailer and probably have to start a second,” McIntyre said. “It’s been wonderful. Lots of sought-after items have been coming in.”
The deadline for donations is Nov. 29.
“This is more of what we need in the world right now,” McIntyre said. “There’s just so much chaos. I think we’re concentrating on all of the wrong things instead of our fellow human beings, which is what we should be doing. It restores my faith in humanity, that’s for sure. This is something that pulls people together.”