Above: Residents sorted items the community donated for a Southborough business to drive down to aid hurricane victims in other states. (pics L-R by Beth Melo and from contributed photo)
Southborough again showed its generosity in answering the call for a collection drive to help people in need.
On Saturday, resident volunteers banded together to collect, organize and help deliver needed supplies to people living in sections of North Carolina and Tennessee that were hard hit by a devastating hurricane.
[Editor’s Note: As I posted earlier today, there is now another effort currently underway to help a former Southborough family also hit by the storm. Click here for those details.}
Critical members of the team effort included the Southborough business Ted’s of Fayville, owned by the Aspesi family.
Not only did they donate the 53 foot big rig, and the driver, but they also tapped into their network for sponsors to help fund the effort. That allowed them to purchase palettes of items to add to Saturday’s haul. (See their thank you list of donors in the image right.)
The community responded to the call for donations by showing up with carloads of supplies throughout the day. Many residents also volunteered their time and energy to help sort and pack the items.
The organizers included Lisa Braccio, who has experience from co-leading many collection drives over the years, starting with regular care package drives for overseas troops, then helping send aid in 2017 to Houston and Puerto Rico after major hurricanes hit those areas.
This time, the collection was more focused than some of those past efforts. Organizers worked with relief organizations on the ground in North Carolina to identify and ask the community for the specific items that were most needed. A range of items included diapers (for babies and adults), household and personal cleaning supplies, bottled water, and batteries.
Braccio shared that the end result was an approx 35,000 lb load. It arrived at the North Wilkesboro Speedway on Sunday, where officials and relief organizations were organizing the effort to get supplies out to those in need.
Braccio shared an update on Sunday. The items were all set to be transferred from Ted’s truck to one of the local transport trucks. By noon on Sunday, items would be making their way directly to the areas where they were most needed.
On Sunday morning, a video taken in NC showed a representative thanking:
This is exactly what we need. We have all the MREs and things that we’re getting from FEMA. We have so much of that. What we need is what y’all have sent. So, thank you so much.
(For those unfamiliar, MREs are shelf-stable Meals that are Ready-to-Eat.)
Local media interviewed Braccio at Saturday’s collection drive. Below is a segment that was broadcast by WBZ/CBS Boston:
One of the other members of the core volunteer group was Kathy Dunsmore. Dunsmore was recently down in the Ashville, NC area and took pictures of some of the aftermath on social media (see examples below).
Braccio posted the pics to Facebook on September 30th, confirming that the Select Board’s office had agreed to allow the Senior Center parking lot to be used as the staging ground for a collection they were organizing. At that time she was still looking for someone to transport the goods.
Kudos to Ted’s for responding to the call!
Below is a video that was shared of their loaded truck hitting the road, followed by a pic of its successful arrival.
Updated (10/9/24 10:23 am): Lisa Braccio shared touching details about the event and the generosity that community members showed. Her recap also specified that Heath Widdis was responsible for arranged to have the boxes needed for the shipping. And through Ted’s of Fayville’s work getting sponsors, the company was able to show up with 12 palettes of materials to include in the shipment.
Braccio also updated that an email on Sunday night informed her that the items had already been distributed by that point.
Speaking of the community’s generosity, she noted:
Everybody wanted to do something. . . you just needed to provide them the opportunity. And that’s what a group of us did.
You can watch her remarks through her public comment at the Select Board Meeting here.
