Santa’s sleigh gets a little help from a convoy of Jeeps and others in western North Carolina this December.
Neal Ashburn of RevFast and Trace Lanier Hall of Wicked Jeeps NC are teaming up with Operation Helo to help children in WNC following the devastation of Hurricane Helene.
It’s an effort they’re calling Toys4WNC, and they’ve already set up more than 100 different places to collect toys in North Carolina and South Carolina.
“We want to give these kids a Christmas like they’ve never experienced before,” Ashburn told Channel 9’s Eli Brand.
READ ALSO: Military surplus store owned by veterans reopens after Hurricane Helene, on Veterans Day
Dozens of boxes of toys are already stacked at Rev Fast in Mooresville, and they will be taking donations until December 14. The toys will then be taken to the West Yancey Fire Department, where parents can collect gifts for their children.
They call it the Great Toy Convoy.
“Once you start giving and once you start seeing the faces and how grateful they are and how much they really need it, that feeling inside of you makes you want to do more,” Hall told Brand.
This isn’t the first initiative these two have created to help families in need. Since Helene struck, they have donated 116 campers full of items to people who lost their homes. They also sent pallets of supplies and made more than two dozen humanitarian trips to the mountains.
“Every time we stood up, we saw more needs. It went from a rescue mission, to housing, to putting roofs over their heads, to now Operation Helo is doing a big Thanksgiving meal,” Ashburn said. “It just goes to the next need and these families need so much. They have lost everything.”
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If you’d like to donate, Ashburn and Hall have set up drop boxes here to help. You can also donate online via this link.
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(VIDEO: Undefeated Western NC football team lifts up community hit hard by Helene)
