CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Western North Carolina nonprofits impacted by Hurricane Helene received 10,000 donated items from WCNC Charlotte's Share the Warmth campaign on Tuesday.
"We are blown away by the community's generosity," said Sally Loftis, interim co-executive director of Feeding Avery Families.
Tuesday, A Queen City Audio & Appliance truck loaded donations and drove to Avery County. WCNC Charlotte chief meteorologist Brad Panovich and volunteers followed the truck to Feeding Avery Families. Before the hurricane, they were feeding 500 families a month. After, they fed 500 families in the first four days.
"I feel like we're maybe out of the life-threatening emergency part and we're kind of in the emergency part. I think another shift will happen when the kids go back to school on November 6," Loftis said.
Feeding Avery Families will distribute the donated winter items, along with nonperishable food, to those in need.
The Share the Warm campaign started when WCNC Charlotte crews were up in the mountains for weeks talking to people impacted by Hurricane Helene about their needs. They’re changing daily, but the one thing that wasn't changing was the urgent need for warm clothes.
Nonprofits like Feeding Avery Families gave WCNC Charlotte a list of the most needed items to keep people warm as temperatures dip below freezing. The list included items they needed urgently like sleeping bags, coats, hats, gloves, and socks.
WCNC Charlotte created an Amazon Wish List, and our Carolinians stepped up, sending thousands of items to WCNC Charlotte for the station employees to unbox, organize and distribute to those who need it most, including the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce and Feeding Avery Families.
"This community is so giving and so generous," WCNC Charlotte Forecaster Larry Sprinkle said. "This is something very special."
There were so many donations, the station's lobby was overflowing.
"This is amazing," WCNC Charlotte Verify Reporter Meghan Bragg said while unpacking boxes. "And these boxes just keep coming in! They're rolling in here nonstop!"
Every day, more and more Amazon delivery trucks showed up and started to unload piles of boxes.
"It's a lot of stuff that's going to a great cause, which means, it's the good kind of a lot of stuff," WCNC Charlotte Producer Ethan Magram qualified.
In all, more than 10,000 items were collected, everything from blankets to hats to gloves to socks to jackets and even sleeping bags.
In total, 9,977 items were purchased off the Amazon Wishlist.
- More than 10,000 items were donated because people purchased items that were not on the Wishlist and people dropped off items they purchased at the store.
- In one day, more than 1,200 boxes were delivered to WCNC Charlotte.
- WCNC volunteers stuffed 86 bags full of winter coats for children.
- WCNC volunteers packed 912 orders of 5-pack of women’s wool socks.
- WCNC volunteers loaded 876 cold-weather sleeping bags.
- WCNC volunteers loaded 1,907 blankets.
"It's been amazing, and the generosity is overwhelming," WCNC Charlotte General Manager and President Joan Barrett said, who personally spent hours in the lobby unpacking and organizing items. "We just want to say we're not done yet. This is for the long haul, and we'll have your back."
The donations went directly to families who desperately need this cold-weather gear.
Also on Tuesday, WCNC Charlotte anchor Vanessa Ruffes and volunteers drove to the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce in Watauga County. The chamber turned into a resource center for those needing help and they continue to offer assistance.
Donations were loaded into a tractor-trailer donated by Coca-Cola Consolidated in Charlotte. It was packed with sleeping bags, jackets, hats, gloves, socks, and blankets. The chamber will house the donations until area nonprofits pick up and distribute them to those in need.
David Jackson with the Boone Chamber of Commerce remarked on the donations, saying the donations came in at the right time.
"The timing couldn't be better," he said. "We've already had our first snow here so warm-weather items are definitely in need."
Jackson told WCNC Charlotte businesses are also in need in the wake of Helene.
"You can come up here. We're excited to see the city centers of Boone and Blowing Rock are handling traffic well," he said.
Then on Friday, WCNC Charlotte loaded the last of the donated items to take up to Avery County.
There are still so many ways you can help those in need, either by donating to the Red Cross, volunteer your time with the Red Cross or Samaritan's Purse.