Sterling church to send third round of relief aid to Hurricane Helene victims in North Carolina

STERLING – A church in Sterling is using the power of community to help those affected by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.

The New Life Lutheran Church at 702 W. Lynn Blvd. sent its second truckload of supplies to Asheville on Wednesday, Oct. 16. Head Pastor Drew Williams said that in addition to taking donations from local businesses, churches and residents, their quilting group donated funds from its 2023 craft show to help. The church even used money from its Joyous Java Coffee Bar, which it uses to help fund charitable missions.

“I’m grateful that we get to be a part of this, but it is not a New Life thing at all,” Williams said. “It’s really been a community thing, which has been a beautiful thing to see, and that we’ve been able to be a part of.”

Williams said his church’s initial involvement was much smaller than what it has grown to become.

“The first shipment was a full flatbed of supplies from a couple of different local farmers,” Williams said. “We just collected money to help pay for the gas. We thought we’d be able to get a couple hundred bucks for them, but then other people wanted to help, and we were able to send $4,000 with them to not only pay for the gas but also get more supplies. That was two weeks ago.”

Since then, Williams said, the donations have continued to pour in, exceeding what they could send on the second trip, which is headed to Biltmore Church. Williams said Biltmore is working with disaster relief group 828Strong, which is helping to coordinate relief efforts throughout the state.

“This time around, a member of our church said they were driving down and would be happy to take some extra stuff,” Williams said. “That turned into five or six people here for 10 hours the last two days, gathering and organizing supplies. We just got a pallet with three generators on it. A couple of chainsaws showed up, and we’ve got enough toilet paper and paper towels to fill an entire van.”

Williams said the second shipment also included clothing, jackets, sleeping bags, pallets of water and canned food. Someone even donated a trailer. He said plans are in the works for a third trip, and he encouraged people to either help directly by visiting 828strong.com and donating or by calling New Life’s office at 708-203-6677.

“This has all been made possible by the kindness of people’s hearts coming together for another community they might not ever know or visit,” Williams said.

Helene made landfall Sept. 26 as a Category 4 storm in Florida’s Big Bend area, leaving a swath of destruction across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, and a death toll of more than 200 lives. About half of those victims were from North Carolina. Helene is the deadliest mainland storm since Katrina in 2005, which claimed more than 1,800 lives.