Centerville church packs 3 trucks with donations for Helene victims

DAYTON, Ohio ( WDTN ) — As Florida braces for Hurricane Milton, support from the Miami Valley is still pouring into areas hit by Hurricane Helene.

In just three days, Cornerstone Church of Christ in Centerville filled up three trailers of supplies. They’re already on the road and taking the donations to North Carolina tonight.

“These three trucks are headed down to Spruce Pine, North Carolina, and Bills Creek, North Carolina,” said Matthew Allen, minister.

Trailers are packed with food, cleaning supplies, generators and paper products to help those in need after Hurricane Helene devastated numerous communities.

Allen says his church organized the collection on Sunday, and both volunteers and donations began to pour in.

“As soon as we got the opportunity, I presented to the church leadership and it was a no question we were ready to go,” said Allen.

What started as a plan to take just two trailers quickly turned into three.

After church elder Russ Robins reached out to Nicole and James Adkins from With God’s Grace, there was no hesitation in helping.

“It ended up, I think, 18 pallets of food that they put on the trailers for us to take down to North Carolina,” said Robins. “They have a heart for those that are hungry. And their donation was just unbelievable.”

The trip is about an eight-hour drive to their destination in North Carolina, made difficult because several roads remain closed. But as they drive off, Allen says it’s their mission to show that the people of the Miami Valley are here to help.

“People want to do good. And I think we have such a wonderful community here in Dayton, Ohio. People care,” said Allen.

Cornerstone Church may be making more trips to help in the future. They’ll be posting updates on social media and will continue to collect monetary donations .

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