Chesterfield man drives donations to Helene victims in North Carolina

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- A week after Hurricane Helene overwhelmed the Southeastern U.S., more Central Virginias are finding ways to help, including a group from Chesterfield delivering supplies to rural areas in the Carolinas.

Steve Bryant, who owns Wholesale Guitars on Hull Street Road, has been leading the charge by broadcasting live on Facebook to solicit donations.

“These people down here are hurting," said Bryant, who organized a donation drive after he spoke with a friend who lives in one of the rural counties near Asheville, North Carolina.

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He has been organizing a donation drive after he spoke with a friend who lives in one of the rural counties near Asheville, North Carolina.

Bryant said that after hearing his friend's horrors, he needed to make a trip down to deliver supplies.

“They’ve been letting us know what supplies they have been getting, which is very little," he said.

Bryant said folks are asking for chainsaws, chainsaw blades, oil, fuel mix, bug repellent and even Benadryl for yellow jacket stings.

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After he put out the call, donations quickly poured in and dozens of people dropped off supplies at his guitar store.

It allowed him to fill a U-Haul truck and three pickups to make the trek Saturday morning.

“People came out of the woodwork," Bryant said. "The community did an amazing job to pull this together."

Bryant, who has been documenting their journey to delivering supplies on social media, said he was so grateful for the help.

"I feel like our country has been divided long enough," Bryant said. "It’s unfortunate something like this has to happen to pull people together, but it does and it happened. It's the community, it’s people helping people. I couldn’t be more thankful."

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