Hayesville – Since Hurricane Helene struck western North Carolina at the end of September, the needs of residents in impacted communities have been changing almost daily.
Initially, these areas needed any supplies they could get. But once storage areas, local residents and volunteers became overwhelmed with the amount of generosity, gears switched to specific needs. Long-term aid for months to come will look like specific areas needing specific supplies.
It’s been a month since the disaster occurred, and most areas have entered the clean-up phase. With this comes the need for supplies to clean up these areas. Murphy First United Methodist Church has been working with other United Methodist Churches and Hinton Rural Life Center in Hayesville to collect supplies and put together cleaning kits to take to the affected areas.
Each five-gallon bucket has a re-sealable lid and is packed with a bottle of liquid laundry detergent, liquid concentrate household cleaner, a bottle of dish soap, a bottle of insect repellent, a roll of large trash bags, a clothesline, clothespins, air fresheners, a scrub brush, N95 particulate respirator dust masks, reusable cleaning wipes/towels, scouring pads, kitchen cleaning gloves, and work gloves. The United Methodist Committee on Relief has provided this form of relief to areas for decades.
These items are crucial to those who are cleaning out flooded homes, businesses, or churches. As of Sunday, Hinton Rural Life Center had 158 completed bucket kits and 68 partially filled bucket kits. The items most needed for the buckets are 16-40-ounce bottles of dish soap, packs of 18 reusable cleaning wipes, clotheslines, clothespins and N95 particulate respirator dust masks. Their goal is to have 200 buckets assembled and ready to be delivered by the end of this week.
Wil Posey, pastor of Murphy First United Methodist Church, urges the community to continue to provide aid when these specific calls for supplies go out. The needs of those affected are changing daily, sometimes even hourly and for this long-term recovery period, there will be more specific needs that can be vastly different for each county or town.
Posey has made Murphy First United Methodist Church a drop-off location for supplies that will go to the cleanup bucket kits. Supplies can be dropped off at any time at 73 Valley River Ave. downtown.
Donations can also be dropped off at the Hinton Rural Life Center tool barn on the corner of Retreat Drive and Hinton Center Road, across from the Clay County Food Pantry. Monetary donations can be made to the Hinton Rural Life Center on their website; make sure to leave a note that the donations are for “hurricane relief.”
Those who wish to purchase supplies online can shop the Amazon Wishlist at a.co/iJJrmcP.
Details: Visit HintonCenter.org, email info@hintoncenter.org or call 828-389-8336.