Donations from Dayton make it down to communities impacted by Helene

DAYTON, Ohio ( WDTN ) — As Florida braces for Hurricane Milton, those hit hard by Hurricane Helene are still working to get their lives back together.

In the mountains of North Carolina, donations collected from around the Miami Valley are now being delivered.

Less than two weeks ago, Hurricane Helen became the deadliest mainland hurricane since Katrina in 2005. Leaving thousands in need of resources, food, shelter and more, people from around the world have responded to the call for help.

“So I’m happy to report there’s a huge outpouring of support down here,” said Michael Harbaugh, Dayton resident.

2 NEWS spoke with two men in the Miami Valley who collected donations and then drove down to the disaster zone to distribute them.

“We ended up with about 120 cases of water, even down to 50 cases of spaghettios, so that we had a lot of personal supplies, we had a lot of things for kids. So they were happy with everything,” said Don Fritts, a local Helene relief volunteer.

Though they took different routes, both first-time relief volunteers had the same mission: to be there for those in need.

They said nothing could truly prepare them for the actuality of it all.

“It’s heartbreaking. You know, it’s not just resources, which is the problem down here. It’s the fact that the river has changed course permanently. And so entire towns and communities, there needs to be like a new bridge built just to get these people out,” said Harbaugh.

On his way down to North Carolina, Fritts stopped at a Walmart in West Virginia where he met a young lady who was turning 21.

That lady and her mom bought relief supplies, which he delivered along with the supplies from Dayton.

“I feel like the need to give back, you know someone else. If I have it, someone else shouldn’t have to go without it. If we have it as a whole, as a state, as a community, another community shouldn’t have to go without,” said Lorianna Lilly, a resident of Beckley, West Virginia.

Fritts also ran into members of Ohio Task Force 1, who had just completed rescue operations near Asheville, North Carolina.

Team members on that task force are heading back to Florida now ahead of Hurricane Milton.

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