This week’s volunteer is Donnie Simmonds, the owner of Double-Tap Tattoo and Tactical in Murphy. Simmonds has been providing hurricane aid since Sep. 28, the day after the storm devastated many parts of Western North Carolina. Simmonds took supplies daily and focused his efforts on the smaller areas that were hit the hardest, including Black Mountain, Swannanoa, Chimney Rock, Spruce Pine, Burnsville, and Fairview. Simmonds has mostly been working with his staff and volunteers in the community but has worked with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office. This was especially important at the beginning when many roads were closed due to damage and debris.
Initially, he was collecting any supplies needed but as the weeks have gone on has aimed to deliver the specific supplies needed in each area. He has worked with the support of Cherokee County residents to bring food, water, baby supplies, medical supplies, clothing, cold weather gear, generators, heaters, and much more.
Simmonds has helped other members of the community to provide various forms of aid. He has worked with Larry Butler, owner of Chevelles Restaurant & Bar in Murphy, to bring hot meals and supplies to members of the community and volunteers. He was a drop-off location for Operation Blanket Asheville organized by Mary Mason that aimed to bring warm clothing and bedding to these communities as the cold weather began moving into the areas.
Locally Simmonds delivered supplies to local nursing homes in Andrews and Hayesville. With his efforts, the nursing homes were able to quickly get all of the supplies they needed to provide high-quality care to the residents that were transferred here after a Veterans nursing home near Asheville, NC was destroyed.
On several occasions, Simmonds has gone into these areas with various groups and K9 units to aid with search and rescue efforts. As a former Marine and someone familiar with the landscape in Western NC, his presence was vital and appreciated.
Overall, Simmonds has described this experience as “terrifying and humbling.” For many volunteers seeing the devastation of these areas, seeing the people affected, and knowing many are still missing has been the hardest part. Simmonds like the other volunteers urges the community to continue to remember these affected areas because the members of these communities will be rebuilding and recovering for years to come. “It’s going to be years and years before this will be behind us,” Simmonds said.
This unexpected was but has also made Simmonds, like others, aware of how lucky Cherokee County was, but urges the community to take steps to prepare for situations like this. He believes that Cherokee County needs an emergency disaster reaction team and potentially a well-protected warehouse that could be used to store supplies that could be necessary if this area were to see a disaster of this level. “The destruction is really unimaginable until you have been there to see it. It’s hard to not think about the what ifs,” Simmonds said.
The best way members of the community can continue to aid the areas in Western NC is by working with organizations and providing monetary donations as this allows for the most flexibility for aid. With needs changing daily and varying for each area, it’s important that supplies are only being taken to areas with a certified need to avoid overwhelming volunteers and storage space.
Details: North Carolina has established the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund and is now accepting donations. Mayor Tim Radford has also shared that volunteer opportunities are available through NC VOAD. Other organizations providing aid include
Samaritan’s Purse, World Central Kitchen, BeLoved Asheville, Baptists on Mission, First Free Will Baptist Church in Hayesville, Brother Wolf Animal Rescue, Forsyth Humane Society, Operation BBQ Relief,
and American Red Cross. Many of these organizations accept donations as well, ensure you are donating to a verified organization and look out for possible scams.