BY STACIE LETT CAIN
Hurricane Helene Airlift Relief has been in full swing at Hangar 3 at the Statesville Regional Airport.
Staffed with volunteers doing everything from directing traffic in the supply donation line to loading airplanes, the hangar has been bustling with activity as Iredell County residents rally to help folks in Western North Carolina who are suffering in the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
On Monday, cars drive up to unload household items, food, water, pet food and other household needs. Volunteers worked quickly to unload the items before moving to the next car in line.
The supplies are piled in the front of the hangar and logged in by donor name. Once logged in, each box and item is weighed and placed in boxes. From there, volunteers start assembling pallets of supplies based on what planes are lined up to load, given a maximum amount of weight it can carry, and then the plane is loaded to withing a few pounds of its capacity.
“It is actually a very precise process,” Bill Repucci of the Carolinas Aviators Network explained. “It is crucial these planes aren’t overloaded to make sure these trips are done safely. People are depending on us to bring them what they need and we are going to continue doing that for as long as we can.”
The organization, a 501c(3) organized less than four years ago as a Facebook page to schedule hamburger runs, had never organized a relief effort until the last couple of days. But you would never know it from watching the boxes and pallets of supplies processed through the hanger.
Pilots and volunteers from all over the Carolinas showed up in force to make sure that if there was a need that it could be met.
“It is so humbling to see the community coming together to make this happen,” Erica Zangwill, president of the Carolinas Aviators Network, said as she was preparing to board a small plane herself.
Zangwill and her husband Brandon, both pilots, waited as their Cessna was loaded with 395 pounds of emergency items and then taxied out onto the runway, departing for an airstrip in western North Carolina. In a matter of minutes, another plane took its turn getting loaded but the next one up was a little larger.
Randy Willard, in a Cessna Grand Caravan, notified the loaders that he was able to take 990 pounds of supplies and as he jumped down to check the outside of the plane.
Meanwhile, Roux, his Blue Heller, sat patiently in the cockpit, waiting for take-off. When Willard was asked why he volunteered for this mission, his answer was simple.
“Well, I had the morning off so I figured why not?”
Within minutes he was off again, taking life-saving supplies to people devastated by the hurricane.
Water and other basic food supplies are always needed but some special requests came in from first responders and rescuers based in the area.
“We are needing chain saw chains, 2-cycle oil, bar oil and instant coffee,” Repucci advised. “They really have very little there they can get.”
On Monday, 101 flights took over 53,000 pounds of supplies into Western North Carolina.
“We just knew we had to do something,” Repucci said when asked why they began this mission. “We saw something that we could do to make a difference, even though we had never done anything like this before. We just had to figure out how to make it happen.”
Donations will be taken at the hangar through Friday. They are still in discussions with the airport over whether the hanger will be available after that time.
Donations can also be left at other locations throughout the city, including Statesville Fire Stations and State Employees Credit Unions.
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