Staff from Wallace State Community College with ties to East Tennessee have been delivering supplies donated by area residents to communities in East Tennessee that was impacted by Hurricane Helene.
CDL instructors Don Stepp and Nathan delivered at least two tractor-trailers filled with items to the Newport area, while athletic trainer Katy Chauvin and her niece Abby Robertson, a Wallace State Fast Track student from Cullman Christian, took a truck and trailer with items collected through donations at Cullman Christian and Wallace State to Greeneville and surrounding areas.
Stepp and Vaughn worked with Wrangler in Hackleburg to take hundreds of jackets and pairs of jeans as well as donations from Oneonta, Double Springs and Hanceville. Through his brother who lives in the Newport area where they both grew up, Stepp connected with Crossroad Flood Relief at Crossroad Community Church, whose efforts started in the basement of the church before expanding to a large warehouse.
“Talking to some of those people, they lost everything,” Stepp said of meeting residents affected by the storm during his and Vaughn’s first trip with supplies. “When Nathan and I went through town you could see the watermarks on the buildings 15 feet above our truck.”
Chauvin graduated from Tusculum College, now Tusculum University, in Greeneville, Tenn., where more than 50 homes were destroyed, at least that many with major damage and many more with moderate to minor damage. Farmland was also affected, she said, and will takes years to recover.
Chauvin noted that most of the residents and farmers didn’t have flood insurance because their homes were never considered as being in a flood zone, so they will be left with the cost of repairing or rebuilding homes, barns and other buildings, as well as replacing equipment, vehicles and tools.
“The landscape is forever changed,” she said. “What was once a field with crops or livestock has now been washed away or is under the river, which has completely changed its path in some locations or it’s covered in a sandy muddy mess. It will take years for this land to be usable again if it is in fact able to be rehabilitated.”
Chauvin delivered the donated supplies and funds she collected to Greeneville CARE Center and Horse Creeks Farms and Dairy.
Chauvin said the CARE Center normally serves the homeless and less fortunate in Greene County. Since the hurricane, they have been serving as a donation and distribution hub for supplies and food. Horse Creeks Farms has been collecting and distributing supplies such as fencing, hay and animal feed.
Chauvin said what touched her most on her first trip to deliver donations is how everyone was helping each other. “If one neighbor had a surplus, they give it to those who need it. They are helping each other rebuild.”
Stepp and Chauvin both expressed thanks to those who donated the supplies they delivered to East Tennessee.
“I was not expecting that much; I’ve been floored about the results,” Chauvin said.
“It’s unbelievable,” Stepp said of the generosity. “Steve Adams, one of our other instructors, mentioned it at church and they funded a number of heaters. People want to help, they’re just not sure how.”