MONROE COUNTY, Pa. — A room inside Gillow's Tax Service in East Stroudsburg is filled with donations to support the people hit by Hurricane Helene.
"The overwhelming support from this community to help someone they don't even know is incredible," said Kevin Gillow.
Dawn and Kevin Gillow own the business.
They say the donations will be sent to Tennessee. A place the couple says their hearts are drawn to, especially the Westgate Resort.
"We own a timeshare, and we decided to take a week to spend at the timeshare, and during that is when low and behold, Hurricane Helene hit. Where we were staying wasn't affected. We had the winds and rains but no damage," said Dawn.
But just 30 minutes from the resort in the Newport area of Tennessee, there was complete devastation. The Gillows learned that many of the resort employees who live there lost everything.
"When we are on vacation, we don't work for anything. They take care of everything that we need, so it was time for us to give back," said Kevin.
The office also collected more than $8,000 to purchase things the families needed.
The Gillows are now loading up a trailer with donations. They will make the drive down south on Friday.
"We are kind of focusing on helping those 34 families and giving them whatever they need. Then the other three families who were displaced, we got a specific list from them, and we started picking items off of the wish list to help them through the process," said Dawn.
Leftover donations will be sent to the City of Newport.
When the Gillows started the hurricane relief effort, they were inspired to start a non-profit to continue the efforts.
"Our efforts down there don't stop once we deliver because, in six months from now, they are still going to need our help, so I want to be able to help them and our local communities or wherever the need leads us," explained Dawn.
Gillow's Tax Service office is located at 528 Seven Bridge Road in East Stroudsburg in Monroe County.
