Capital District disaster relief ready to ship

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, rescuers are now getting into the more remote regions of the Southeastern states. With the scope of the disaster continuing to grow, NEWS10’s reporter, James De La Fuente spoke with some local organizations that are sending supplies to those most affected by the catastrophic storm.  

Mary Alice Molgard, Red Cross Disaster Public Affairs Volunteer Partner says, from her understanding, western North Carolina is an area with the most significant damage. “This isn’t normal up in the mountains because they’d had rain for two or three days before the hurricane hit,” said Molgard.

Molgard explained the damage has made it difficult to get help where it’s needed. “There’s virtually no cell service in most of the region. Many roads that are just simply washed away. They’re really struggling to establish communications,” said Molgard.

“There’s a small college in a community called Banner Elk, North Carolina. A little college called Lees-McRae and they had to evacuate their students. They brought Chinook helicopters in and put the kids in the back of the Chinook helicopters, and took them out that way,” said Molgard.

There are more Red Cross volunteers on the way, traveling in specially equipped emergency response vehicles. “It’s packed with water, with some food supplies, cleaning kits, clean up kits, probably some blankets and other items for the flood relief. He’s (Bob Domanico) heading to Charlotte, North Carolina, and probably will be sent into the mountain region,” said Molgard.

And other capital region leaders are poised to make a difference. Pastor Charlie Muller from Victory Church said, “This 40-foot tractor-trailer is double stacked. So, we have two Conex boxes that are all ready to go. When that truck backs up here, we’re going to load it. We already have two shipments ready to go, which is a real blessing because each shipment’s around $100,000.”

But pastor Charlie says more help is needed, “What’s really needed is soaps, shampoos, baby products, diapers, you know, the necessities.”

Victory Church is partnered with a global entity that provides help for all kinds of disasters. “Jezreel International has been doing this so long. They’ve got certain shippers, truckers, and they know exactly how to get the product there,” said the Pastor.

As great as these efforts are, Pastor Charlie could use more volunteers and donations. “Extra workers are coming in tomorrow. They’re throwing the boxes together as quick as they can.”

To get involved with volunteer work or donations through Victory Church you can call 518-434-6100 or visit their website VictoryAlbany.com