MONROE COUNTY, Pa. — What started out as a small effort to help people hit by Hurricane Helene now fills a closet at the Barrett Township Community Center.
Andrea Hermes of Paradise Township is spearheading an organization called, Mountain Strong Poconos to bring much needed supplies to the people of Lansing, North Carolina.
"Right now, people are living in tents on their land because they lost their homes, they have nowhere to go, no resources to go anywhere," said Hermes.
A tractor trailer outside of the community center is starting to fill up with donations of food, hygiene items and cold weather gear. Hermes says Lansing looks a lot like it does here in the Poconos.
"They rely on tourism just like we do," said Hermes
So Barrett Township adopted Lansing, North Carolina, as its sister town.
"They have immediate needs obviously, but to rebuild their infrastructure and really get them to where they were is going to be years. So it is an ongoing project for us, and we aren't going to let them down," said Pamela Gardsy, Barrett Township Admin and Operations Director.
Organizers say the needs of the people in North Carolina are changing like the seasons. So they need specific items to fill up this tractor trailer.
"Really, what they need are medicines. So generic medicines name brand medicines they need cold and flu, they need Tylenol we need children's and adults," said Hermes.
Township officials say this is exactly what the community center was made for.
"It starts out little and all of the sudden it keeps growing and growing we are getting calls every single day what can I do do help, and their needs change daily," said Gardsy.
Donations will be collected at several area businesses as well as the Barrett Township Community Center until Friday, November 8th.
Mountain Strong Poconos will also be collecting monetary donations. To learn more about their mission, click here.