BLYTHEWOOD – While Blythewood was not one of the areas most ravaged by Helene, many folks in Blythewood are trying to help friends and relatives in the more devastated areas.
Blythewood Town Manager Daniel Stines, who hails from the hills of western North Carolina, left early Thursday morning with a truck and trailer load of chain saws, generator fuel, food and other supplies to help friends and relatives in Burke County, NC; Avery County, NC; and Carter County, TN.
“My father-in-law’s church raised some financial donations that I’m taking up there, plus we have donations of supplies that will be useful to those folks in the mountains where they still don’t have power and my not have it for weeks or months,” Stines said.
“I’m taking a pop-up camper to live in for the five days I’m there and a four-wheeler to get back into areas in the mountains where the roads are impassable because they’re either washed out or strewn with downed trees. I’ll just be helping where I can.”
VillageChurch
Members of VillageChurch on Rimer Pond Road in Blythewood stocked a truck with supplies last week and organizer Leann Boone’s family drove the truck to North Carolina where the supplies were distributed by a church outside of Asheville.
“We had connections with that church, so that’s something we did real quick,” said VillageChurch Pastor Erik Estep. “In a couple of weeks, we’re taking a group of volunteers to one of our sister churches, Waterlife in Lenore, N.C. We’ll be working with Samaritan’s Purse for a couple of weeks just doing what we can to help – chain saw work, food preparation and things like that. Our disaster-relief team leader is meeting with them now to find out what is needed.
“A lot of our members are already up there on their own, helping clear trees and providing supplies,” Estep said. “Patrick Tyndall has a group chain sawing trees in Ware Shoals in the upstate where there’s still a lot of damage. A lot of good people are doing a lot of good things to help those folks out who live in the devastated areas.”
The church is located at 574 Rimer Pond Road. Phone: 803-419-0989.
Trinity United Methodist Church
Trinity United Methodist Church in Blythewood is collecting donations for Helene victims, working in partnership with the S.C. Methodist Church Committee. Donations of supplies can be dropped off at the church and will be delivered to churches in either the SC upstate or North Carolina to be distributed to people in the devastated areas. The church’s welcome center is currently asking for donations of water, cleaning supplies, diapers, baby food and basic hygiene items.
The church is located at 90 Boney Road in downtown Blythewood. Phone: 803-767-1637.
Blythewood Presbyterian Church
Last week Blythewood Presbyterian Church collected supplies to be helicoptered to hard to reach places in the North Carolina mountains that were left devastated from Hurricane Helene. They delivered gas cans, water, canned food, baby formula, diapers, medicines, first aid kits, generators, batteries, and clothing last Thursday, then partnered with New Kirk Presbyterian to send another load on Sunday.
Blythewood Presbyterian continues their support of Hurricane Helene victims by hosting a Mum Sale on Saturday from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. at 441 Rimer Pond Road in Blythewood.
