Holmes residents send relief to North Carolina flood victims
Volunteers at Berlin Gardens are hard at work packaging up donations that are pouring in from all over Holmes County as a part of the effort to supply relief to those hit hard by the Hurricane Helene disaster in North Carolina. The relief mission is ongoing and will continue as long as there is a need for food, sundries and other goods.
Editor's note: To find out collection sites in the area and for a list of supplies that are most needed, go to www.helenereliefohio.com.
When it comes to finding ways to share love and compassion with a community in need, Holmes County knows how to step up.
After violent floods from Hurricane Helene ravaged parts of Western North Carolina, leaving many people homeless, stranded, lost and with many perished, it didn’t take long for the wheel to begin to turn in Holmes County as to finding ways to provide aid to those in need.
Four area leaders from the East Holmes community gathered together to discuss the options, setting in motion a plan to use Berlin Gardens as a collection hub for materials, food and financial donations, and they quickly turned to the community for help.
The community, as always, has responded quickly and in a huge way.
“All said, this community is amazing in how people are willing to give,” said Sam Yoder, president of Berlin Gardens. “It is just a matter of getting the word out to this community, and once that happens, we know people will give generously because people here care so deeply about others.”
Yoder has a friend in the pastor at Foothills Community Church in Columbus, North Carolina, who also is a county commissioner. Yoder said the trucks will head to Foothills Community Church to deliver the goods, and they will distribute from that central location, where there also is a food kitchen.
The four men who gathered together were Dave Troyer, Reuben Keim, Curt Yoder and Sam Yoder, four friends who meet Thursday mornings for coffee.
This meeting took on a unique and important sense in that it expanded well beyond the borders of Holmes County.
“On Monday morning (Sept. 30), we got together to brainstorm on how we could help out victims of the storm,” Sam Yoder said. “Four of us got together and left the meeting with a list of different ways we could contribute.”
Within 24 hours they had collected more than $50,000 in donations, had lined up semi-trucks, and the collections of goods and materials was rolling in at an amazing clip.
The first semi rolled out of Berlin Gardens on Wednesday at 11 a.m. A second was being loaded and was not far behind.
Not only are goods being delivered, but the effort also has people taking grills and food down to prepare hot meals for people.
Yoder said he knew many people here were seeking ways to help. Once the word got out, people began bringing in cars loaded with goods and food, local businesses brought in trucks filled with goods, and people brought what they could give.
“People are so generous,” Yoder said. “It’s just people being willing and available to use the gifts and resources that God has given us — share the blessing.”
Maynard Beachy of Beachy Trucking heard about the process and volunteered to take the first semi load of goods to North Carolina, an eight-hour trip.
“I heard about it and wanted to help any way I could,” Beachy said. “If they need us, we will be here to take more down.”
Yoder said as long as the church continues to relay a need, this mission will go on. He also said he knows that as long as this mission continues, people here will continue to give from the heart.
“We won’t quit until there is no longer a need,” Yoder said. “That is the giving heart of this community.”
Anyone wishing to give to the North Carolina hurricane relief effort can drop off food, cleaning supplies, sundries, baby items and whatever they can give to the effort at the loading dock at Berlin Gardens.