TRENTON — Starting on Monday, Oct. 8, two Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte AmeriCorps members, Alyssa Willow (left) and Brandy Arredondo (right), assisted for one week of disaster response operations in the Diocese of Raleigh.
Based in the small town of Trenton, NC, west of New Bern and about 20 miles from the coast, the two AmeriCorps members distributed emergency supplies such as first aid and hygiene kits, blankets, diapers, baby formula and cleaning items to those affected by Hurricane Florence.
They also assisted in operating a mobile disaster response laundry truck (with six washers and six dryers) provided by Catholic Charities USA free for use by anyone in the hurricane-affected communities – a needed service which Arredondo said “allowed clients to leave (the laundry truck) and return when needed so that they could still take care of other errands.”
“As we drove down the country roads to Trenton,” noted Willow, “most of the houses had their contents out on the side of the road. The debris all around us took me aback as I realized how many people had been affected.”
On their last day of work in eastern North Carolina, they helped accept, sort, weigh and organize donations arriving at the Catholic Parish Outreach warehouse of Catholic Charities in Raleigh.
— Photo provided by Joe Purello