Shepherdstown residents Carrie Blessing, left, and John Doyle load a box of meal packets into Blessing’s minivan on Oct. 1. Courtesy photo

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Over the past week, a number of people and organizations have banded together to provide emergency relief supplies to those affected by Hurricane Helene.

Emergency relief drives have been held in Shannondale, Shepherdstown and Kearneysville, with supplies being delivered to areas that were the worst hit by the hurricane — in North Carolina and Tennessee.

On Oct. 1., Shepherdstown resident Jimmy Duncan drove a trailer full of donations from the community up from Kearneysville to Chambersburg, Pa., where a drop-off location was set up for Hurricane Helene emergency supplies. The trailer joined six others that were being delivered to help with relief efforts led by Samaritan’s Purse and Pisgah Brewing Company, which is located 10 miles outside of Asheville.

“We have been blessed by hundreds, if not a thousand, of people donating for this to be possible. Thank you for all the prayers, donations and help. It would not have been possible without everyone involved,” said organizer Aaron Miller, mentioning the idea for the relief effort started in a Bible study he attends. “Praise God for putting the unction in people’s hearts to help.”

In Shannondale, Meghan Williams collected donations to take up to the Nolichucky River area in Tennessee on the morning of Oct. 2.

Harpers Ferry resident Camryn Grove carries a bag filled with donations for Hurricane Helene emergency relief efforts on Oct. 1. Courtesy photo

“I will try and bring it along with a can-do attitude,” Williams said, after encouraging anyone in need from the impacted area to reach out to her over Facebook and share any specific needs they may have.

Shepherdstown Shares could be found working with community members on Oct. 1 to load up food and hygiene items for transportation to a town to the southeast of Asheville on Oct. 2.

“I was driving around half the day collecting donations. People were so generous,” said Shepherdstown resident Donna Joy, who picked up the donations from local residents in her town, as well as in Kearneysville and Shenandoah Junction. “It is so touching how people will pour out their hearts and give to complete strangers.”

Joy then met up with Shepherdstown resident Carrie Blessing and a few other community members at the Shepherdstown Shares Food Pantry around 4 p.m. The pantry was donating a number of items to the donation drive, including a number of Meals of Hope meal packets, which had originally been donated to it by National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) staff members.

“NCTC gave us tons of boxes of these meal packets, which I knew we couldn’t all use up,” said food pantry coordinator Cari Simon, mentioning she and Shepherdstown Shares treasurer Mark Kohut came up with the idea to donate the boxes to Hurricane Helene relief efforts. “I knew we had to move these boxes quickly and so, when I saw the post on Facebook about this, I immediately reached out.”

13-year-old Matthew and his mom, Carrie Blessing, carry donations with fellow Shepherdstown resident Donna Joy, right, on Tuesday afternoon. Courtesy photo

The group of volunteers at the food pantry loaded up Blessing’s minivan with the emergency relief supplies, which she then delivered to her cousin’s husband, Kacy Kite.

“It was packed full,” Blessing said. “We hope these needed supplies bring some comfort. There will certainly be long days ahead for those whose homes were in the hurricane’s path.”

As the end of the day on Oct. 2, Kite could be found driving a trailer full of the donated items down to his hometown, southeast of Asheville.

“When Christina told me Kacy was going down with supplies to help his family and their neighbors, I begin coordinating to bring them donations. It is a devastating situation,” Blessing said. “We certainly have a community that rallies when others are in need!”