As Hurricane Florence was churning in the Atlantic headed straight for the Carolinas, a private Facebook group of moms in Charlotte had a simple idea. The idea launched a serious Florence relief effort that will help so many devastated by the floodwaters in the Carolinas.
Thousands of residents in Mecklenburg and surrounding counties tuned in to continuous coverage on NBC Charlotte, WCNC.com and NBC Charlotte’s Facebook page looking for insight from Chief Meteorologist Brad Panovich.
“My kids would run down the hall and say, ‘Mom, your boyfriend’s on TV!’” said Amanda McGrath, member of the mom’s group. “I’m not sure Brad ever sleeps, but to know that I could look at his social media at 2 a.m. and again at 7 a.m. and there was always an update.”
So McGrath reached out to Brad’s wife Tammy in a private moms Facebook group asking if she needed anything.
“Really the purpose was for Brad to know that his hard work and dedication and his passion toward teaching us has not gone unnoticed,” Amanda said. “But that we have Tammy’s back in gratitude for him having ours.”
Tammy was moved to tears.
“To reach out to me was a level of compassion that I had never witnessed one-on-one myself,” Tammy said.
That support alone was enough for Tammy. So the moms decided on their own to pitch in to buy Brad gift cards for dinner after they learned he was working through his dinner break.
“In $5 and $10 increments in less than 24 hours we had $1,325,” Amanda said.
That was much more than anyone expected. The group of moms decided to take the extra money and get supplies for Florence victims.
“The moms in this area really work together to create a better good for others,” Amanda said.
Soon there was another post suggesting a t-shirt. The group of moms tossed out ideas and voted on their favorite. Then they started pre-orders.
Christy Rossi, who runs a screen printing business called Snatch and Run LLC in Fort Mill, offered to print them.
“I think this is just a really good example that a lot of moms working together to do something great and not one person taking the credit for it,” Christy said.
It’s hard to stop the power of a group of moms.
“I am absolutely a FANovich,” one mom said.
“Total FANovich,” said another.
And the #imafanovich hashtag was born.
The group has 1,800 pre-orders for the t-shirts already. The shirts sell for $20 each and 100% of the proceeds go directly to hurricane relief efforts in the Carolinas through Samaritan’s Purse and Convoy of Hope.
“I’m overwhelmed with thankfulness for the people who have supported myself, my kids and my husband,” Tammy said.
To order a shirt, visit the I'm a FANovich Facebook page.