Community’s help needed to send gifts, supplies to fire victims

Pike County citizens are asked to send new toys for Christmas gifts for children and general home supplies to victims of the recent devastating fires in Tennessee. A trailer owned by Jerry Colwell will be parked at Ace Hardware in Zebulon and supplies can be donated Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Steve Brown and his wife Sheri Brown are instrumental in getting local donations after their son Nathaniel Brown took time off work to travel to Sevierville, Tennessee with donations gathered by fire departments in the Woodstock area. He left Dec. 8 with a trailer full of items, including 500 blankets that were donated from Christ Chapel. ’There were hundreds of people who lost their homes, but the real tragedy is they’ve lost their livelihood and their income because the Christmas season is a big deal in the Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge areas,’ said Steve Brown. ‘There were lots of jobs lost for people who live in the small communities in the surrounding areas.’Nathaniel Brown and others from Yancey Caterpillar are not just delivering supplies, but are also helping with cleanup efforts in the wake of the destructive fires which killed 14 people and damaged or destroyed more than 2,400 properties. In addition to Christmas gifts, they are asking for donations of general household goods such as clothing, bedding items, yard tools for outside clean up, food donations of canned and boxed goods, baby food and formula, diapers, wipes and other supplies. The items will be delivered weekly to areas most in need in Tennessee.