BUFFALO, N.Y. — As always, Western New Yorkers have stepped up to help strangers in their time of need. Volunteers from here are down south doing what they can to help people impacted by Helene.
The American Red Cross and Eight Days of Hope have both sent volunteers to places impacted by Helene.
Eight Days of Hope sent volunteers and food to Florida right after the storm hit. So far, they've served thousands of meals. They're also going to Georgia to help people clean up.
The Red Cross has about 2,000 volunteers helping now with 15 local people there. The local volunteers are driving an emergency response vehicle to North Carolina. That will allow them to drive to people who might not want to leave what's left of their homes and belongings to bring them food and water.
"What they will do is they'll stay close to homes. So we'll use these vehicles and go into communities that have been hit the hardest and we will provide feeding operations. It's a big food truck and we'll serve, you know, four-hundred meals a day out of this and then kind of go back, reload, and do it over again," said Nick Bond, American Red Cross WNY Region CEO.
"This is a critical part of our mission in making sure that, that people have food, and water, and the things that they need, you know, when they don't have much."
The Red Cross says its volunteers will be there for months with different people staying for a few weeks at a time. The emergency response vehicle will stay in North Carolina for now.
"For so many of these volunteers who go down, they think, you know, I'm going to be able to give them something, but they leave with something in return that, that they weren't quite expecting. The joy of serving that we call it that so many of our volunteers go down and they come back feeling full and refreshed even though their bodies are weary," said Hannah Fletcher, Eight Days of Hope communications director.
"We want to bring a glimpse of hope and healing to these families who are in desperate need, who have nothing, and have no way to start that rebuilding process on their own."
And through the power of social media, The Bills Mafia Babes are connecting people in North Carolina who need a place to stay with people who have extra room for them at their homes.