The Wolf’s Den in Ostrander held a Hurricane Helene Relief Drive on October 13. Everything gathered at the relief drive was taken to Parrotsville, Tenn., near the North Carolina border, to help victims of Hurricane Helene.
The Wolf’s Den Owner, Lynne Dempewolf, says she felt the need to do the relief drive after watching the news and seeing some posts on social media about the damage. For her, this storm became personal. “We have some friends down there that live in North Carolina,” said Dempewolf. “Their daughter posted that they were all okay, but they had no electricity and lots of trees down. Her dad was our first cook when we first opened 20 years ago. This really hit home. We had to do something to help.”
Dempewolf said many businesses and people in the area have stepped up to help. The donations included cash, blankets, clothes, bottled water, non-perishable food items, cleaning supplies, and much more. The Wolf’s Den Facebook page lists the following businesses and others as among those who donated: Gwen and Randy of Spring Valley Overhead Door and Minnesota Metal; The Sweet Stop & Sandwich Shoppe in Preston; Carr’s Bar N’ Grill in Racine; KM Pallets Finds and Countryside Pallet Deals; Sweets Hotel, A Gift to Gab, and townsfolk of LeRoy; First State Bank of Spring Valley; Concordia Lutheran of Albert Lea; International Paper of Austin; Total Restaurant Supply; Ziebell’s Hiawatha Foods Inc. in Winona; patrons of The Wolf’s Den and many others.
The drive brought in a total of 7,500 pounds of donations.
Dom Jones from SCC Construction in LeRoy volunteered to drive the supplies to Parrotsville. He donated his truck, and partnered with Ferguson Trailer in Rochester for the trailer. Jones says two of his employees, Zach Hanson and Tabitha Knutson, went with him on the drive. It was about a 37-hour drive there and back.
Jones offered up his thoughts when he got back. “Where we were at, it was the end of the flooding, so it wasn’t terrible. It was kind of like we get here, a few downed trees here and there, but nothing too bad. But when we went into that area that got hit, the roads were closed all the way around so we couldn’t go any further into North Carolina. It was really bad there.”
All of the aid was dropped off at the Parrotsville Church of God in Parrotsville, Tenn. The church is led by Pastor Mark Renner. Renner says their fellowship hall is being used as a central donation drop. Locally, they do not need as many supplies, because they only lost electricity and water for a couple of days. Much of the aid he has received is being shipped into the deeper regions of North Carolina.
Over the next week, Renner is sending trucks to Marshall, Avery and Swannanoa, N.C., where some of the worst damage is. “Most of the houses in those areas are just completely gone. Most of them are living off the land, and it’s getting cold. Last night it got into the low 30s there,” he said. People across the country are stepping up to help them out, though. “We’ve received trucks from Minnesota, Connecticut and New York,” he said.
Renner shed some light on the situation in some of the worst parts that were hit by Hurricane Helene. Organizations who should be there to help, simply aren’t there. “Insurances aren’t paying anything for people who lost their houses,” he said. Even worse, nobody from the government has come to help, either. “I don’t want this to be political, but I don’t understand, the military that we have, the tax dollars that we pay, and all the money that’s been put into our army, navy, air force, everything that we’ve got in the United States of America, my thought is, the second day after this flood came, the government should have had military people drop in, backpacks on their backs, to go find these people. I believe a lot of lives would have been saved, and still could be saved.” He continued, “I’m here to tell you that they’re still, even FEMA and all those organizations, they’re still not here. The only way anyone’s getting help, I’ve seen with my own physical eyes, is people taking ATVs, 4-wheelers, and pack mules, packing them down with supplies and going up into the North Carolina mountains to try to reach people.” Speaking about those who have stepped up, Renner said, “I’m humbled. So many people have come to help. So many people have sent us aid. But on the other side, I’m frustrated that so many people are losing their lives because our government isn’t on top of this.”
Renner says there is still a need for many things, including food, diapers, toiletries, hygiene products, plates, propane heaters, tents, blankets, propane, coats, and generators. With cold weather setting in now, he stressed the need for tents, blankets, coats, heaters and propane. If you want to send aid, the address to send it to is 2170 Old Hwy 321, Parrotsville, Tenn. 37843.
Leave a Reply