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Peoria nonprofit collects donations to deliver to Hurricane Helene victims

A man with a yellow emergency vest and red hat fills a bag with water from a pipe. A man with blond hair and a man with a baseball hat reach for the bag.
Brittany Peterson
/
AP
Michael Traister receives a bag of drinking water to fill Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. The Peoria Riverkeepers are gathering donations, including bottles water, to bring to Asheville.

A Peoria nonprofit organization is collecting donations for people impacted by Hurricane Helene.

Volunteers with Peoria Riverkeeper will leave Oct. 18 to bring donations down to Asheville, North Carolina, which faced heavy flooding during the storm.

CEO Michael Smallberger said they’re collecting blankets, flashlights, non-perishable food, hygiene items and hand sanitizer.

“We definitely need more water, bottled water, and gallons of purified water and stuff like that,” he said. “Clothing, neatly organized or clean, lightly used clothing.”

Smallberger said blankets and warm clothes are needed as the nights get colder in the area. They’re also collecting medical supplies for medical professionals in the area.

He said one of their members, Sarah Tomm, has already coordinated some supply runs down to the area. He said they’ve spoken with local authorities and organizations to confirm that they’ll be able to bring the donations into the town.

“There's a lot of misinformation and information going out there, about people being stopped and goods being seized and all that, but Buncombe County is telling us to ignore that, and they've clearly set up the donation sites and the shelter sites that are available,” he said.

He said they’re relying on government websites and people on the ground to get information on road closures.

Smallberger said the response from the Peoria area has been good.

“I would say we've probably received about 100 pounds of non perishables, maybe 15 to 20 good fleece blankets,” he said. “We've received waterproof blankets and maybe a couple dozen flashlights. So we have a decent amount, but we are still looking to gather more.”

He said Hy-Vee has also pledged donations.

Anyone looking to volunteer or donate can contact Peoria Riverkeeper. The deadline to donate is Oct. 17.

Camryn Cutinello is a reporter and digital content director at WCBU. You can reach Camryn at cncutin@illinoisstate.edu.