Firefighters in Isabella County are hoping to help people still impacted by Hurricane Helene this holiday season.
Five Deerfield Township firefighters traveled to the North Carolina-Tennessee region to help out in relief and recovery efforts after the storm hit.
They brought with them a trailer packed full of supplies donated by the community. They said it was an eye-opening experience that has left a permanent mark on their hearts.
“This is crazy to think that it’s still, like day one down there for some things. Just kind of like a scramble every day, trying to figure out things and just the kind of chaos of it. Soit .So that’s why it’s so much on our mind. I can’t imagine if that happened to that in our community, said Marcus Zuker.
Zuker was one of the firefighters that made the previous trip down there.
Firefighter Michelle Thompson said we need to remember our friends that are still struggling after the generally massive initial influx of help that happens in a disaster. She said it dwindles down over time, but it doesn’t mean more help isn’t still needed.
“We are collecting Christmas gifts for people of all ages. We are collecting wrapping paper, gift bags, gift tags, tape, things like that. Our goal is to be able to take, trailer load of things down for them and then allow parents to come in and shop for their kids and wrap their kids as presents and label them themselves,” said Thompson.
If you would like to donate, you can contact the department on Facebook. Thompson said just make sure you are on the one for Isabella County.
You can also wait until November 30th and bring them down to the department in person, they will be packing the trailer from 11 to 3.