Effingham locals plan fundraiser for North Carolina’s Helen victims

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) – It’s been just over a month since Hurricane Helen hit states in the Southeast, including Georgia. However, one of the hardest hit states was North Carolina.

An Effingham woman has been doing what she can to help those in need by gathering supplies and taking them to stormed areas.

WTOC spoke with the Georgia native to learn more about the work she does.

Our team first spoke with Angela Miller before she made her first trip to North Carolina since the hurricane. Since then, she and her family have made two trips to towns like Swannanoa. Their third trip is already planned for next weekend.

Miller immediately began collecting donations for storm victims, and she drove a huge shipment to North Carolina the first weekend after Helen passed through.

Miller says that on both trips she took, the resilience of the communities was inspiring.

“You know, you just don’t understand how these people can just smile and hug you and then turn around and go into their house and there’s no electricity. They have no food. You know, they can’t get out of their house because they can’t go further if they don’t have somebody to help them,” Miller said. “The images just don’t do it justice. I mean it’s like you know oh well it happened. No, these are houses divided in half.”

The group of volunteers Miller was with distributed more than 500 meals to those still in the area.

To help collect more items for the storm victims, they are hosting a fundraiser at a local restaurant in Savannah.

A friend of Miller’s, who works at Midtown Bar and Grill on Habersham, reached out to people wanting to help people in North Carolina.

The restaurant will be open and accepting donations today from 2:30 p.m

Miller has lists of what people can bring on Facebook, including gift cards to Lowes or Home Depot for supplies to help rebuild areas that have been completely destroyed.

Miller says the support of her own Georgia community has been a blessing.

“You know we’ve had our own devastation in Georgia and I’ve been very, very blessed and just blown away by the amount of help that people, I mean, I’ve been getting donations, donations… The community is good,” Miller said.

All donations collected during the fundraiser will be loaded and taken with Miller on her next trip to Swanannoa.

Amy Moore, who owns Simply Southern in Springfield, will also travel with Miller to distribute food to those in need.

If you can’t make it to the Midtown Bar and Grill but still want to make a donation, Miller says you can contact her anytime.