With communities in western North Carolina picking up the pieces from Hurricane Helene’s destructive path, businesses and community members in Elon and Burlington are collecting donations to send to those in need, 180 miles away.
For the past week, the right-hand corner inside Beer Republic in Elon has been crowded with goods. Mike and Jill Avillion, owners of Beer Republic, started collections Sept. 30 — posting on the business’ Instagram account about the collection spot.
“Once I saw how bad it was, I knew that there was something that needed to be done,” Mike said.
According to Mike, Beer Republic is collecting all types of donations, from toilet paper to baby formula. He said any donations are welcome.
“Before you know it, you've got trucks full of food and rations and life saving medicines,” Mike said. “It's really just continuing to make the drops in the bucket, and eventually that bucket’s gonna fill up.”
According to Mike, when customers who don’t know about the drive see the pile of goods, they come back with donations to add.
“They're seeing the effort of the local community and really embracing that, just jumping on board,” Mike said.
Beer Republic, as seen Oct. 3. collects donations to send to western North Carolinians impacted by Hurricane Helene.
Mike said he plans on dropping off the donations at a supply collection site where the goods will then be sent west. He also said he is aiming to get the goods in the hands of those in need as soon as possible.
“People needed their supplies yesterday,” Mike said. “There's people that still can't get communication with family members, loved ones, friends and it's trying to be immediate about everything, trying to get everything in there as soon as possible.”
Officials are currently discouraging motorists from traveling to western North Carolina for their own personal safety. Stretches of Interstate 40 remain closed for travel due to damage, while some portions of the road were even washed away during the storm.
With travel restrictions in place, many struggled to contact loved ones and friends in the west. Mike said he reached out to a colleague Sept. 28 and didn’t hear back for three days.
Elon senior and North Carolina native Samantha Hinton attempted to contact friends in western North Carolina but also didn’t hear back for a long period of time. She said many people were turning to social media to contact loved ones and share information with others.
“That's the beauty of social media,” Hinton said. “People are posting what they need and talking about what's going on up there. And my hope is that people really try to listen to that and hear what people are asking and do what we can to support our community.”
Hinton said she kept up with social media activity from people in western North Carolina and couldn’t sit back when she saw the devastation and need for supplies. That’s when Hinton began to personally transport donated goods to Beer Republic for Elon students who don’t have cars.
“You assume a responsibility when you choose to move to an area that is historically underfunded and underrepresented, to support people that don't have access to the same privileges that you do,” Hinton said. “Whether you're from here or you moved here, we're a community, and we're all part of that community. And it's our responsibility to show up for our family when our family is in trouble.”
While Hinton doesn’t call western North Carolina home, she said she feels a connection to the communities there.
“Obviously, I know people that live up there, but I also just know this community, and I feel like it's mine as well,” Hinton said. “I know that North Carolina is a really resilient place, but western N.C., specifically, isn't prepared for disasters like this because they never happen.”
Hinton said rural areas, like the majority of western North Carolina, are often forgotten about by the rest of the country. She said she hopes people don’t forget about those in need any time soon.
“I hope that this isn't an issue where people forget about it in a week and just move on, because reality is, a lot of people can't move on,” Hinton said. “This is their life now.”
Even though Hinton is currently transporting goods to only Beer Republic, there are other local spots to donate goods. Throughout the town of Elon and the wider Burlington community, businesses and community organizations alike are organizing donation drives to send to western North Carolina.
According to The Weather Channel and researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, climate change likely played a significant role in the severity of Hurricane Helene. Scientists point to an increasing overall global climate, which increases water temperature and the transfer of heat from the water to the air. Hinton said she hopes lawmakers will see Helene’s destruction and start to pay attention to climate change.
“In my opinion, it's clear that this is a consequence of climate change that we're seeing hurricanes hit so far away from the coast,” Hinton said. “I think that a lot of politicians’ refusal to acknowledge it as an issue, or avoidance of instating infrastructure to support people that are being affected by natural disasters, is the reason we're seeing such a devastating impact in western North Carolina.”
According to a press release from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, $110 million in federal assistance is already being distributed to help with recovery efforts for survivors of Hurricane Helene. In North Carolina specifically, the press release said FEMA has provided more than $26 million in housing and other types of assistance.
Mike said he doesn’t believe the need for donations will go away anytime soon and will continue to collect goods for the foreseeable future.
“We're going to do what we can for as long as we can to help them out,” Mike said.
According to Hinton, any donation, small or large, will help those impacted by the hurricane. She encouraged Elon students specifically to donate.
“We're in a really privileged position here at Elon to have access to stores, have access to the basic human necessities that people out there literally don't have access to right now,” Hinton said. “If you have the means to do it, donate, whether that's supplies or financially through some of the organizations doing the work, now is the time to show up for it.”
Both Mike and Hinton also shared their appreciation for the efforts of the local community coming together so far.
“It's great to see just how much people are doing and how thoughtful people are being,” Hinton said. “Obviously, as students, it can be hard to financially donate at times. So, it's really great to see people doing what they can do.”