Severna Park Resident Aides Hurricane Florence Relief Effort

As soon as it was reported that Hurricane Florence was going to hit North Carolina, Severna Park resident Kevin Harris was prepared.

“I was doing something else Saturday morning when I was told, ‘Hey, we’re going to North Carolina right now. Meet us back here in two hours,’” Harris said. “It was a sudden, urgent deployment.”

Harris was in Wilmington, North Carolina, from September 15 through 19 with Civil Air Patrol, the volunteer auxiliary of the United States Air Force. He was in a group of 13 people from Maryland. The group set up a point of distribution, or POD, where they handed out food and water to those affected by the storm.

From 7:00am to 7:00pm, the group was stationed at an elementary school. Cars would drive up, and a member of Civil Air Patrol would load it up with a case of water and a case of MREs, the Meals Ready to Eat rations used by the military. Each MRE case contained 12 meals.

“You don’t understand people’s position until you get a chance to talk to them, but unfortunately, we were doing about a thousand cars a day. We really didn’t have time to sit and talk to each individual person, even though they wanted to talk,” Harris said. “Every single one of them was overly appreciative of everything we were doing.”

When people were in tears over bottles of water, Harris said it opened his eyes to their situation at home.

“There’s one guy who sticks out in my mind,” Harris said. “When I put food in his car, he was actually in tears, and he said he’d never had to beg for food in his entire life. That is a very tough situation.”

Though the weather was mostly clear during his time there, Harris said he saw some major flooding, including water that came up just under the top of a street sign. The group drove down to Wilmington in 12-passenger vans and couldn’t make it to Wilmington the first night because of flooding. They stayed in a nearby air force base.

While in Wilmington, the group stayed in the Sears at a local mall.

“We had a big mission base set up inside that mall. Multiple different jurisdictions were there,” Harris said. “It was very secure there with armed security. We had to have badges to get in and out.”

Harris is the squadron commander for Civil Air Patrol unit in Glen Burnie, where he has volunteered for 17 years. He first signed up when he was 12 years old.

“They came to my middle school, and they were in a military uniform. As a kid, I wanted to be in the military, and I was like, ‘I need to do that,’” Harris said. “I know what it did for me growing up, so I stick with it.”

Since Harris’ return, Civil Air Patrol has deployed two more groups of volunteers to North Carolina.

“I’m not in the situation anymore, but I definitely still think about it. I’m keeping in touch with the crews that are down there, and I’m glad to hear the situation is improving,” Harris said. “It’s still on my mind. You can see pictures on the news, you can hear about stories. Until you experience it, it doesn’t really hit home.”

Orphan Grain Train Collecting Donations For Florence Victims

Orphan Grain Train, a volunteer ministry, is collecting donations to send down to victims of Hurricane Florence.

“We do disaster response,” said Orphan Grain Train branch manager Elfie Eberle. “These are people in need.”

The most needed items are 5-gallon buckets, heavy-duty trash bags, work gloves, scouring pads, scrub brushes, powdered cleanser, liquid cleaner, old towels, paper towels, mops and brooms, hand sanitizer or baby wipes, bandages, feminine hygiene supplies, adult and baby diapers, and gift cards to Lowe’s, Home Depot, Walmart or Target.

Orphan Grain Train has already sent one truck of donations to North Carolina and plans to send another as soon as it’s full. Currently, there isn’t a deadline for donations, as Orphan Grain Train plans to deliver to North Carolina for at least a year or “until they don’t need us anymore,” Eberle said.

If you have any questions, call Karen Ann Kowalcyk at 570-436-3938. Orphan Grain Train is located at 621 East West Boulevard in Millersville. Items can be dropped off on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Orphan Grain Train is open from 10:00am to 1:00pm. If you want to make a donation outside of those times, call Steve Zahn at 410-544-6167.