Daphne woman heads to Asheville to help after Helene

DAPHNE, Ala. (WKRG) — The city of Daphne is about 600 miles from Asheville, North Carolina, a place that Noel Shulman has called home and a town that has been devastated by a hurricane.

Hurricane Helene coming ashore in Florida was never really a concern for folks living in Asheville, North Carolina, Shulman said.

“Asheville is surrounded by mountains,” said Noel Shulman. “So, imagine all this is mountain ranges so we were down, protected from any, we never even gave it a second thought.”

Over the last few days, it’s all she could think about.

“You feel like you are on the edge of your seat, can’t sleep, hoping, crying, seeing all this devastation you are imagining the worst.”

And then, the stories started trickling in of friends in the storm zone.

“My best friend for 15 or 20 years, he got caught in a landslide. His car was flipping, he had to break his side window to climb out on top of the car and a family on the other side of the car was able to toss a rope and get him to safety.”

That’s when she started planning a homecoming of sorts, traveling to Asheville with as many supplies and donations as her little SUV could hold but also needing to do something else.

“I need to hug my friends. I need to see my town and I feel like I need to go help in any way I can.”

She will do just that when she leaves on October 12 to drop off her supplies and volunteer anywhere she is needed.

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