KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — As first responders and National Guard troops handle rescue operations and cleanup in the wake of Hurricane Helene in the Southeast United States, Southwest Michigan residents are banding together to lend a helping hand.
“(I’m getting a) phone call pretty much every 10 minutes of ‘I got this; would this help?’ We’re going to fill up this trailer, there’s no doubt in my mind,” Tom Elsman of Sporty’s Pub in Paw Paw said.
A U-Haul trailer has been parked outside of his pub for the last day, already brimming with donated food, water and clothing.
“I got two friends in North Carolina, they got their house direct pretty good. They are not in the worst-hit areas but they got pretty decent damaged though,” Elsman said.
Dozens of Red Cross volunteers from Michigan respond to the Southeast
He said the idea to gather supplies originated with longtime customer and friend Sean Collins, and what started as a conversation in the pub soon turned into a real-life aid mission. Once packed, Collins will take the trailer to a distribution point in North Carolina, where the supplies will be collected and shuttled out to communities cut off by the hurricane’s damage…