Hurricane Harvey relief efforts are ongoing
The Girl Scouts of Troop 13399 in Cedartown were out at the First Presbyterian Church Saturday morning with a long line of goods piled up in the parking lot, divided up in boxes by what they are in preparation for real packing later.
The goods were just some of the items being donated by local residents from all walks of life throughout the area and are headed to southeast Texas and it’s coastline, just now in the early stages of rebuilding as the waters began to recede following the devastation of Hurricane Harvey.
Candace Howard was one of those on hand with the troop helping to collect goods and organize the effort in which the girl scouts have partnered with Will 2 Way Foundation to fill up semis and send them along to those in need in Texas later next week.
“We decided it was a need in Cedartown,” Howard said.
Howard said many went through the donation line to drop off items at the church this past Saturday morning, which will be collected overall in Cartersville this Saturday for packing into supply bags to hand out.
She said “a bunch” had shown up with less than an hour to go for the morning drop off donation drive, and the girl scouts will be taking part in packing effort in hopes to fill a semi trailer with items in need.
Pamela Whitfield, who heads up t he Will2Way Foundation in the area, said the collections over the weekend were just part of the efforts ahead of what victims of the storm will need as they continue cleanup operations and families get back to their homes on the Texas coast.
And Whitfield wants to make sure when the supplies leave for Houston, she’ll already be there to greet them and help with figuring out distribution efforts.
“I’m flying over on September 13, so when he (the truck driver) arrives on site I’ll be there as well,” Whitfield said.
She isn’t the only one who will be heading off for Texas.
Polk County native and now Buford resident Matt Williams is loading up supplies this coming week on Friday, Sept. 15 for a weekend trip to the disaster zone with supplies himself.
He said he’s getting help from his family for making donations, and that he’s putting his work on hold as a contractor to go to support Hamilton Mills Presbyterian Church in Buford.
“I just felt the need to do something to help,” Williams said.
It was a common refrain heard from Chad Fortune of Buchanan.
He’s got help from friends and family locally to take items to the Houston metro area this past weekend, when he loaded up his truck and trailer to haul supplies with the intention of arriving Saturday, and returning on Monday after finding a way to distribute what he had.
“I feel like I need to go, so I’m going,” Fortune said before he left earlier last week.
Donation efforts are still underway too for the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, who are taking items throughout this week from 8:30 a.m. through 5 p.m.
They recommend bringing nonperishable food, bottled water, paper towels, cleaning products, rubber gloves, diapers ( adult and baby), Ensure ( or liquid meals), first aid supplies, 5 gallon buckets with lids, dish soap, handi-wipes, air freshener, work gloves, scrub brushes, dust masks, garbage bags, tooth brushes, tooth paste, or other items thought to be needed.
The Sheriff’s Office Hope For Polk program plans to ship items with the help of CTS Industries later this week.
Churches and local charities thus far have not made any immediate supply drive efforts, and are instead directing members and those interested in helping to make monetary donations to relief efforts like the Southern Baptist’s Disaster Relief Team, who helps provide hot meals in disaster zones with food provided by groups like the American Red Cross, or in the case of First Presbyterian donations can be made directly to the church with the memo line designating the efforts be given over to Hurricane Harvey disaster recovery.