Staff with City Church in downtown Evansville are pulling items from the back of Kim McDonald’s van, roughly sorting the cleaning supplies from the pet supplies, and loading them into a 26-foot moving truck.
McDonald is donating items for hurricane relief.
“I brought paper products, toiletries,” she said. “I bought some pet things, shoes, socks, storage, storage, reusable bags, Ziploc bags.”
The Church published a list of the items most-needed to their website, from which she chose.
Hurricane Helene has devastated areas of Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee and South and North Carolina. The Evansville area is responding to the disaster, and coordinating with the larger relief effort.
Cliff Weaver is Director of the City of Evansville/Vanderburgh County Emergency Management Agency (EMA.)
He said a lot of people want to help, but it’s important to do it in concert with the emergency agencies and only send items they request, for example.
“We were on Long Island during Hurricane Sandy, and we had so many donations coming in, they filled up a skating rink about the size of the Ford Center with donations, and probably 70-percent of that ended up in the landfill, unfortunately.”
He said people have good intentions but can create a logistical problem for the receiving areas. He’s seen this happen while working at the federal level.
“…because all these trucks come in, all the donations come in and there's no place to put them.”
Because of this, the EMA posted online a set of donation parameters. Anyone hauling supplies needs to email a specific logistical support administrator about that supply truck headed to disaster areas.
If the right details aren’t supplied, the truck will be turned away. Weaver said it’s about safety.
“If civilians are coming in there in unfamiliar areas, they may get trapped,” Weaver said. “There may not be gas stations to get fuel to get out. There may not be any food left. It may be days before you can get in and get out of these places.”
As a constant presence to deliver what’s needed — he said donating to the Red Cross is the most efficient way to help.
Currently 68 Evansville region Red Cross volunteers are deployed to the hurricane zones. Region Executive Director Beth Sweeney said their effort started weeks before Helene hit.
“We opened evacuation shelters,” she said. “We sent truckloads of supplies, snacks, water, food, cleanup kits, comfort kits, which are basic toiletries and things. Our cots, our blankets, everything that we needed to operate shelters and provide that immediate assistance.”
And they’re there now ready for Hurricane Milton.
“We are in Asheville, North Carolina. We are in parts of Florida. We are in parts of Georgia, working in those shelters and doing that mobile feeding.”
She said that 90-percent of donations go to the mission.
Back at City Church, Office Manager Courtney Geisman is taping up another box in their steadily filling truck.
“This is a box of toiletries,” she said. “It is soap, sponges, toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss.”
These items are bound for Ashville, North Carolina, coordinating with non-profit organization BeLoved Ashville. The non-profit will accept and distribute the supplies.
City Church has been careful to accept only non-perishable items based on what BeLoved Ashville needs, said City Church Executive Director Jannette Allen.
“One thing they just recently let us know was the need for new charcoal grills and charcoal as well,” she said. “So that's something that we added to the list to collect. I also think we are in need of pillows, blankets, things like that. We haven't got a lot of those yet either.”
Moving company Two Men and a Truck are handling the logistics. They are donating the vehicle and the employees to deliver it. The Ashville branch has two employees still missing since the hurricane.
River of Life Church in Henderson is also accepting donations bound for Ashville North Carolina.
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EMA logistical information:
INFORMATION ONLY- If anyone wishes to travel to NC and deliver supplies, please contact the Business Emergency Operations Center (BEOC) by emailing BEOC@ncdps.gov the following criteria:
• Subject line “LOGISTICS SUPPORT”
• Detail WHAT you are moving and WHY you need special access
• Address WHEN you plan to move items and from where
• Note WHERE you are headed
• Say when you will arrive at the border of western NC and where
If you don’t do this, you’ll likely be turned away.