As residents in the Southeast continue to clean up and dig out from the damage of Hurricane Helene, local organizations are pitching in to help.
The Brother’s Brother warehouse was bustling Monday morning as staff loaded trucks with pallets of bottled water, hygiene kits and nutrition drinks headed to the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank in Macon, Ga., and the Manna Food Bank in Asheville, N.C.
Ozzy Samad, president of the North Side-based Brother’s Brother, said Monday’s efforts are “just the beginning.”
“As we keep getting more things, such as blankets, medical products and other things, we will keep sending those down,” he said.
The organization is partnering with Allegheny Health Network, UPMC and Mine Safety Appliances to offer mental health services to those impacted by the Category 4 hurricane, which made landfall on Sept. 26 and cut an enormous path of destruction through Florida before tearing through Georgia into the Carolinas.
AHN has been working with Brother’s Brother for years to send aid to those impacted by storms and other disasters, said Dan Laurent, vice president of corporate communications.
“We’re providing significant quantities of personal protective equipment, including masks, shields, glasses, gloves, gowns, hand wipes and hospital blankets,” he said. “We have a very generous employee base and have gotten nearly thousands of inquiries about how they can help.
“Clearly, we’re all thinking about those in the South and we’re looking to do everything we can.”
Organizations in North Carolina have been telling Mr. Samad the devastation from Hurricane Helene has been “unreal,” he said.
“It's key for us to really figure out where things have to go,” Mr. Samad said. “We can't just send supplies down and then hope for the best.”
Brother’s Brother in the meantime is monitoring developments with Hurricane Milton, a monstrous Category 5 storm that could make landfall on Wednesday and has prompted evacuations along Florida’s West Coast near Tampa.
“The needs are just tremendous,” Mr. Samad said. “So anything that we can do has been helpful from their perspective. This [Hurricane Helene] reminds me of [Hurricane Maria] in 2017 and honestly, they're still digging out in a number of ways.”
First Published: October 7, 2024, 7:22 p.m.
Updated: October 8, 2024, 1:11 p.m.
