Hurricane Helene relief: Donation drives underway across region
Businesses across Southwestern Pennsylvania have rallied to drum up truckloads of donations to send to the victims of Hurricane Helene.
Helene made landfall Sept. 26 in Florida and moved up the east coast. More than 220 people have died, though the death toll continues to rise. In North Carolina the mountainous city of Asheville and the surrounding areas in the eastern part of the state were hit particularly hard.
Crazy Horse Coffee owner James Bendel and several other Washington County businesses and nonprofits will be collecting donations this week at several locations and sending a tractor-trailer full of supplies to the Asheville-based disaster relief organization Hearts with Hands.
“We’re all Americans, so that’s where it starts,” Bendel said of the motivation to start collecting donations. “Beyond being Americans, we got to support one another. That’s what I’ve always been about.”
Bendel said that Coyle Trucking is donating the truck, trailer and driver for the cause. He expects to get the truck today, and start collecting donations Wednesday morning. A Facebook page for the donation drive provides a list of acceptable items, which includes personal hygiene products, dry foods, animal food, cleaning supplies, diapers, baby formula, paper products and medical supplies.
Donations will be collected at the Crazy Horse Coffee location in Wildflower Circle, North Strabane Township. There will also be drop-off locations at the Washington Financial branch at 255 Murtland Ave., Julia James Salon in Bethel Park and Voodoo Brewing on West Pike Street in Houston.
“I’m blessed to have enough people to be able to call on for something like this. Coyle jumped right on this,” Bendel said.
Also helping organize the donation drive are Omar Brooks, owner of VetPets of Southwestern Pennsylvania, and Harry’s Pizza in Peters Township.
They are also not the only ones in Washington County loading a truck to take south.
Eighty Four Agway is serving as a staging area for the collection of animal products to be shipped to North Carolina.
Jamie Donahue, Eighty Four Agway manager, said various animal supplies are being collected to be donated including food for all animals, bedding, hay and veterinary supplies, such as wraps needed for wounded animals.
“We’re also accepting donations,” Donahue said. “That donation money will go toward buying supplies for the cause. We just decided to jump in and help out and do anything we could. I guess it’s pretty bad with the animal situation down there.”
People can call the store and Agway will have someone shop for that person. Agway is offering a 25% discount on all animal products purchased in the store for distribution in North Carolina.
“We sell all of (the needed products) here, so if anyone has a problem coming up with things, we’re willing to help put something together for how much they want to spend,” Donahue said.
The hope is to have enough supplies donated to fill an 18-wheeler.
“We’re still in the process of arranging trucking to go down south,” Donahue said. “We should have a truck here sometime soon. We’ll find a way to get it down there.”
Donahue said no date has been set for how long supplies will be collected.
“We really don’t have a timeframe because we want to fill the whole truck,” she said.
In Fayette County, a local trucking company is already loading up its third trailer to take to a church in Newport, Tenn. Perryopolis BSJ&P Transportation will continue collecting donations in the parking lot of Katie’s Cookie Jar today until dark, and the trio of trucks will ship out Wednesday morning.
“One 53-foot trailer was donated to us. On Saturday we filled one by itself in one day,” said Rachelle Rice, who owns BSJ&P with her husband, Harold.
Tri-State Trailer Sales in Pittsburgh donated the trailer. Jim Gibson, owner of Pittsburgh-based TMT Transportation, is also helping out.
“Individuals are showing up all day long. There is a line there now of people bringing stuff in,” Gibson said.
Also in Fayette County, the Connellsville Area Career and Technical Center on Locust Street will be collecting donations. Connellsville Mayor Greg Lincoln posted to Facebook that the drive was organized by students in the school’s protective services program.
Donations can be dropped off during school hours.
Students at Elizabeth Forward School District are currently holding a “diaper drive.” The student government association and the Tri-M Music Honor Society are collecting diapers and monetary donations in high school classrooms until Friday. There will be a chance for the public to donate from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Wednesday at the high school cafeteria.
Donations will be delivered by recently retired principal Mike Routh, who informed the district of a church in North Carolina making a specific plea for diapers.
“As sponsors of service organizations, we recognize the importance of teaching our students how to use the skills and knowledge they garner in the classroom in ways that help others. Even one person or one small donation can make a big difference in someone else’s life,” said Dr. Jen Spiegel, an English teacher and sponsor of the student government association.