A semi-truck from Naperville made a special delivery in Bryson City, North Carolina Monday morning, bringing items locals here donated for Hurricane Helene victims there.
“When you think about somebody losing everything they’ve ever owned, including their house, [and] now living in tents. It’s one of the best feelings to know these items are going to those who need it most,” said Joe Spooner, president of Prager Moving and Storage Company.
How the donations came about
Over the weekend, Prager Moving and Storage Company filled their truck from top to bottom with boxes full of food, clothing, pet supplies, and so much more. It all started more than two weeks ago when local realtor Kristina Irvine was talking with a client whose mother was impacted by the hurricane.
“My mom had property damage,” said that client, Bobbie-Jo Niedzielski of Yorkville. “Her little town got flooded. 80 families [were] displaced. It’s heartbreaking.”
“She was going to fill a box truck herself and drive down there,” said Irvine. “I was going to make a donation, [I] posted to Facebook to see if anybody else wanted to grab their stuff, and then this happened,” Irvine said of the donations, which started pouring in soon after. “There were non-stop drop-offs for the entire two and a half weeks. Our office staff had to literally put their jobs to the side to help us get things out of people’s cars and then pack [everything] so it’d be ready for Prager Moving and Storage to come pick it up.”
Banding together for Hurricane Helene victims
Nearly 30 other businesses jumped on board as additional drop-off locations. Everything ended up at Prager Moving and Storage company on Saturday with individuals and families dropping off additional items.
“I found Kristina’s article online and I thought it was really inspiring so I emailed her,” said Varsha Guttikonda, Junior at Waubonsie Valley High School. “I could collect from my friends and family, and I could drop off some supplies and I collected a lot more than I could imagine.”
“I just got immersed in what was happening in the south,” said Jennifer Carbonara. “I feel like God placed a message in my heart and I had to do something so this is how I was able to help.”
Seventh graders from Granger Middle School packed their teacher’s car with supplies and letters to the victims. According to that teacher, Molly Harrison, one student used all of his allowance money to buy diapers and bottled water for the cause.
Exceeding expectations
In all, nearly 20,000 pounds of items were donated and according to the truck driver, families in Bryson who lost everything in Hurricane Helene picked up the items as soon as they were unloaded Monday morning.
Cover photo courtesy of the DuPage Children’s Museum
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