Community helps Ed’s Repair aid storm victims

The community of Southampton County-Franklin stepped up in North Carolina residents’ time of need last week.

From Sept. 30-Oct. 4, members of that community donated supplies and money to Crystle Cline and Ed O’Donnell, of the Sedley-based automotive business Ed’s Repair, so they could use some of their equipment to deliver that aid to people whose homes, property and lives were ravaged by Hurricane Helene.

Cline and O’Donnell made the trip to Black Mountain and Swannanoa in North Carolina on Saturday, Oct. 5, delivering the aid and also helping out some people personally that they came across on the road.

“This trip, wow, it was eye-opening,” Cline said, “and I think that both of us are kind of still processing what all we saw.”

She explained how the endeavor to help came about.

“We had seen things on the news,” she said, “and FEMA wasn’t really getting to places and whatnot, and Ed asked me this past Monday(, Sept. 30,) if I wanted to make a trip, and I said, ‘Sure. Put the word out and see what we can come up with.’

Cline graduated from high school in Gates County, North Carolina, and her family encouraged her to reach out to a family friend in that area, Corey Tyree, who has a construction company there.

Tyree & Associates ended up being a key component in the aid effort undertaken by Ed’s Repair.

Cline and O’Donnell put the word out on Facebook about their planned trip, and the donations flooded in to Ed’s Repair over the next few days.

“Every day last week, I had anywhere between 12 to 30 vehicles here dropping stuff off,” Cline said. “It was crazy.”

She provided a survey of some of the items donated, noting that NAPA Auto Parts – Beamon & Johnson Inc. in Franklin donated a case of water.

Burdette Baptist Church donated a whole pickup truck full of cleaning supplies.

Roots & Wings Pediatrics donated several smaller cases of baby food and PediaSure, and an area pediatrician also donated a lot of formula and baby bottles.

“We had a lot of people donating diapers and paper towels, canned goods, rice,” Cline said.

Troy Cook donated a case of dog food.

“We had people donating money to us, specifically to pay for the trip to get down there, and then we also probably raised close to $1,000,” Cline said. “I did leave a couple hundred with Corey’s wife, because they were saying that Red Cross and FEMA doesn’t hand out cash and that there were areas (where people) couldn’t use their cards and that that would be helpful.”

Cline noted that she spent most of the donated money on camping stoves that North Carolina residents could use, along with five-gallon camping potties and porta-potty lids.

“And then Brian Futrell, with the Courtland Volunteer Fire Department, he actually donated a generator that we got running and were able to get down there to them,” Cline said.

Summing up the aid delivered, she said, “So, a little bit of everything.”

She said the donations filled a trailer, all of Ed’s truck, and then she had some in her vehicle.

“We were so overloaded that I had some in my Expedition, and I’m still donating those donations to other people that are heading down there,” she said. “So I still have stuff that I’m trying to disperse.”

She noted that Tyree & Associates linked up herself and O’Donnell with a shop in North Carolina and facilitated the distribution of the items.

“We didn’t get to see all of the products being dispersed, but a lot of the people were coming in that had the ATVs and things,” she said. “They were taking them in on trucks and ATVs because these two towns around Swannanoa had not been helped yet.”

She mentioned hearing that a specific load was being taken out to Burnsville.

After making the trip on Saturday, Oct. 5, Cline and O’Donnell came home Sunday, Oct. 6, so they could return to work.

Cline noted that in addition to being heavily impacted by the devastation she saw in North Carolina, she also was greatly moved by the Southampton-Franklin community response to it.

“I have a whole new perspective on this community and am so thankful to be a part of it, and just the way that we all pulled together to help others was really amazing,” she said. “It was a beautiful thing to be a part of and to witness.”

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