A local relief effort for victims of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina is growing faster than anyone imagined.

It started when Justin Sherwin of Rensselaer had an idea to send down a truck with some supplies. Now it’s much more than that. 

Sherwin didn’t think this effort would get this big. All day Monday, people came by with boxes of things, and they’ve been packing everything up to go down to North Carolina.

This is just one collection point of at least seven all over the region.

One small trip with a pickup truck has now become two trips already, with box trucks and tractor-trailers.

Sherwin has a good friend he’s worked with who is in North Carolina, who told him things are worse than we think down there after Hurricane Helene. So, Sherwin started the effort, and soon many people joined in. Businessowners talked to one another, and the word spread.

They need generators, Benadryl, blankets, matches, utility pumps, DeWalt batteries for power tools, socks and more.

People can drop off all week at AC’s Towing in Rotterdam, Towaway Towing in Hudson Falls, Dagan Trucking in Castleton, Route 43 Farms in Rensselaer, Taste of Italy in Latham and the Watervliet Fire Department. 

Sherwin is part of an advance team that’s leaving Tuesday. The trucks head out Wednesday.