Hurricane Helene made landfall on 9/26/2024 striking the east coast and leaving a trail of destruction from Florida, riding up the easternmost states, and leaving absolute devastation in the Carolinas, Tennessee, and isolated places in Kentucky.
Marcus Paint’s own Katrina Chaney, a South Carolina resident, was in town for several days when the storm surged to its extremes. Once she heard from Friends and Family about how supplies were scarce and in desperate need of necessities and hygiene products. Katrina organized an email campaign to customers, suppliers, and friends alike to ask for donations of Items she could take back home once she knew it was safe.
Tyler Skaggs, a member of our lab / R&D department, took some of the donations to Tennessee to help friends and members of the community where his family lived, which was affected by the storm.
What Marcus Paint did not expect, was the outpouring of support from the community to send Aid in such a trying time for many families in her town. So many donations were brought, that Katrina did not even have enough room in her pick-up truck to take!
I was able to sit down and talk with Tyler Skaggs and below is a first-hand account of the days after.
“My wife and I both have family who have lived in these areas for generations so it hit pretty close to home for us, and we wanted to do our part in the aftermath efforts. We had about 100 volunteers (all amazing people) show up to what was originally the ~15 guys in our normal group, all with cars/trucks/trailers/u-hauls full of supplies. We had some members from Jeep communities, HAM radio communities, local “militias”, relief corps, and just regular old civilians. There were people literally joining in on our convoy on the road just wanting to help. We set up base camp in Jonesborough, TN at our family’s property. We took inventory of everything we all brought and tried to distribute items to take to places that made specific requests online. Then we broke into teams, split by car type and how far we could realistically travel since so many roads were inaccessible.
Saturday, my group made supply drops all over at Fire Depts, schools, churches, and community centers across Jonesborough, Greenville, Johnson City, Unicoi, Erwin, Elizabethton, and Mountain City. Some specific locations were: Meals on Wheels in Johnson City, Cherry Grove Baptist Church in Jonesborough, Davy Crockett High School in Greeneville, Unicoi County High School in Unicoi, Riverview Baptist Church in Erwin, Unicoi County EMA & VFD. While we were out, we did some reconnaissance across the area as well as looking for people in need in heavily affected areas not easily accessible by heavy machinery.
Sunday, we went out to those areas and communities we found the day before to help as many individuals and families as we could by bringing supplies they needed, helping with debris cleanup, excavating and clearing roads, and unfortunately searching for their missing families and neighbors among feet of mud for as far as you could see. Creeks and rivers had risen what looked like 30 feet in some areas, and water that was normally 10′ wide was half a mile wide leaving nothing behind but mud and debris. Entire streets of homes, farms, businesses, cars, etc just completely swept away.
Monday, we made a push up the mountain with our more capable vehicles to bring supplies through Roan Mountain, Elk Park, Banner Elk, and up to the Boone area in NC. We cleared countless roads of trees/debris/shrubs where heavy machinery couldn’t access. Brought water and food to people who had been cut off totally for the past week. Most of these areas we went to had no electricity, running water, sewage and we had been the first people they’d seen in a week.
People just breaking down at the sight of another human is something I won’t forget. The smell of deceased animals/people, sewage, mold was abundant everywhere we went. I personally only saw FEMA at one fire department, where they were confiscating supplies brought in by civilians and moving them to an air base/airport for “redistribution.” They told us they would be moving through the area doing the same to any drop point they found. The National Guard had cleared a couple of roads but were also blocking several roads that were the only way in/out of communities in need, not allowing us to go through to bring supplies. Local people and volunteers had done the vast majority of cleanup, road clearing, body searching, and supply runs. Red Cross was not seen anywhere by any of our group during our time there.
Overall it was an experience I won’t forget. Impossible to get the full effect through pictures online. Families are still in shock, losing everything they’ve worked for through generations. Just surreal to see in person!”
The help we received made a direct impact on so many people’s lives that were going through such a hard and uncertain time. We would like to thank everyone who donated. We could not have collected as much as we did and it really made a difference! Below are some photos of the donations we were able to disperse to those in need. At the bottom is a list of those who donated, without whom this would not have been possible.
- Cambria Hotel – Louisville, KY 40202
- Linens, water, coffee, tea, nonperishables
- Allnex – Louisville, KY40209
- Cleaning products, Lowe’s Chainsaw chains
- Superior – Louisville, KY 40216
- Bar Chain Oil, 2 Stroke Oil, gloves, tarps, gas cans, trash bag Diapers, Formula
- Mirazon – Louisville, KY 40223
- Amazon purchasesToilet Paper, Paper TowelsNon Perishable Foods
- Water, Gatorade, Chips
- RL Carriers – Louisville, KY 40258
- Diapers, Wipes, Formula
- Talon Logistics – New Albany, IN 47150
- Chain saw chains
- Erica and Jeff Lane – Eaton, OH 45320
- Chain saw chains
- Bonnie and Paul Chaney – Brookville, IN 47012
- Chain saw chains
- John and Rosie Kuehn – Brookville, IN 47012
- Supplies for Asheville, NC
- Goodson Supply Company – Louisville, KY40299
- Baby Tees and Sweatshirts
- Northside Christian Church Rockstar Life Group
- Non-perishables, paper towels, personal hygieneWater, pails, gloves, batteriesFormula, Ensure, Liquid IV, Hand Sanitizer, Trash bags, Non-perishable foods, Wipes, Gloves, TarpsDiapers, personal hygiene
- Laundry detergent, foam cups, paper plates, utensils napkins Baby wipes, bar soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste
- Marcus Paint Company – Louisville, KY 40202
- WaterGatorade, Water, Diapers, Totes, Tarps, Coolers
- Bar chain oil