In the aftermath of a natural disaster, it’s always humbling and encouraging to see people come together to help those in need. TMG’s very own Joe Matthews and Rusty Cook saw an opportunity to help with relief efforts from Hurricane Helene and immediately “flew” into action.
In Joe’s own words, he tells the story of his trip with Rusty to North Carolina on Saturday, October 5th. Their experience demonstrates the core of TMG’s values and exudes the gift of hope.
Yesterday, Rusty Cook and I made two relief flights to help people suffering in an area of North Carolina that was hit by Hurricane Helene.
In the first flight we moved 700 pounds of relief supplies from Winchester, VA (KOKV) to Statesville, NC (KSVH) and thereafter a second flight in which we moved 750 pounds of relief supplies from Statesville, NC to Ashe County, NC (KGEV). Rusty was the loadmaster, Tanya encouraged us and sent us on our way with great BLT sandwiches and I was the pilot. It was a memorable day to see hundreds of people volunteering to help others in need.
Understanding that what we were participating in was a volunteer operation – it was amazing to see the complexity of the logistics that are allowing hundreds of aircraft and relief workers to effectively provide help to people in need.
Statesville, NC served as a hub, with a 7,000 ft. runway that connected nine other smaller airports that have 3,000 ft. to 5,000 ft. runways. The day started out at our homebase, Winchester, VA, where Nick Sabo, Executive Director of Winchester Regional Airport Authority, and his staff had accumulated donations, which we delivered to Statesville, NC. Thereafter, we were asked to move a load to Ashe County, NC which was nestled in the mountains at 3,200 above ground level at a location where the hurricane had done considerable damage. It was heartwarming to see all the good human energy. As a parallel, we got to observe shear craziness at these two airports in which dozens of airplanes and helicopters were coming and going. It felt like being of the flight line of an aircraft carrier.
It sounds like things are stabilizing, however there is a need for a couple more weeks of relief work.