Hurricane Helene, one of the worst hurricanes I have been alive for, recently ripped into an area that doesn’t normally see that kind of horrific storms. Western North Carolina, Southwestern Virginia, and East Tennessee have been left in shambles. From what I have heard in the news, they are estimating millions to billions of dollars in damage, which could take years to fix. The number of casualties is unknown according to multiple news sources as they are still finding folks in the rubble. Farmers are devastated as they have lost livestock, feed, buildings, and so much more.
For some unknown reason, I had this strong desire to help these people. Usually, I will just donate money or supplies, but this time, I wanted to do more. It’s not like I’m a full-time dairy farmer, softball coach, writer, or anything. I have all the free time in the world (insert extreme sarcasm). But I wanted to help, so I found churches and groups that could take money, supplies, and items to provide some relief for the human and animal victims of the storm. What I assumed would be just a pickup truck or two of supplies quickly turned into something way bigger than I could have ever imagined.
My community showed up when I asked for help. It was something I could have never imagined happening. Within 24 hours, we raised over $1,500 and had six pallets of feed donated, along with other supplies. I had to step back, reevaluate, and figure out how I was going to get all these supplies to North Carolina. So, I called a family friend that owned a trucking company, and he offered to donate a tractor trailer and a driver to take everything down yesterday.
Local businesses, the Rockingham Co-op, our Farm Bureau, one of the local elementary schools, and so many others became drop off points and have equally collected an enormous amount of items. By day three of receiving donations, we had received a total of nearly $4,000 and so many items I had to start asking folks to help us get things to the tractor trailer. It’s been bigger and better than I could have ever imagined.
The most important thing besides helping the victims is that it brought our community together. The presidential election is coming up, and folks are dead set on their political parties. We have seen a lot of division and a lot of folks walking wide circles around others. This small project of mine that quickly became bigger than I thought it would, brought all kinds of people together via Facebook and in person. When a community comes together, it’s amazing what they can accomplish. My hope is that we made a difference and learned something along the way. Stay safe out there, folks, and pray for Appalachia.
The author is a sixth-generation farmer and fifth-generation dairy producer in southwest Virginia, where she and her family own and operate a 145-head Holstein dairy. Courtney is involved in agriculture organizations throughout her community and is a graduate of Virginia Tech.