Ohio University organized a campus-wide donation drive for those impacted by Hurricane Helene. The drive took donations from Oct. 4-11 and specifically aimed to help those in Tennessee and North Carolina.
Donations were accepted on the third and fourth floors of Baker University Center, the first floor of Grover Center, Cutler Hall, the Ridges and Grosvenor West.
The university collaborated with Operation Airdrop, a Texas-based group of volunteer pilots who deliver essential needs after natural disasters to areas that cannot be reached via vehicle transportation.
Jay Wilhelm, director of the Avionics Engineering Center and associate professor of mechanical engineering, spearheaded the drive’s organization.
“There was a call for pilots and airplanes, along with the university wanting to collect donations,” Wilhelm said. “So there was a clear connection that I made there, and just got everybody together, and they got support from the university to do it.”
Wilhelm said although roads may be closed off or flooded, airports are more accessible at a time like this.
“The whole call was to use airplanes because those areas are not accessible by large trucks, let’s say, and so they’re kind of cut off right now, but there are airports sprinkled throughout that region,” he said.
Wilhelm discussed the university’s value of giving back to communities, especially those that need help.
“This is a great example of community engagement because we get everybody together, they do good things together and can help other people,” Wilhelm said. “Imagine if this happened in Athens, would the communities around us support us? I don’t know, but we do what we can to help other people out.”
The university has made an effort to be proactive in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, despite the geographic distance between Athens and the states affected.
“OU is committed to providing resources and support for all students in need,” university spokesperson Samantha Pelham wrote in an email.
The various offices have strived to help students in Athens who could be affected in multiple ways, Pelham said.
“In addition to the university-wide hurricane response efforts, the Division of Student Affairs reached out to OHIO students who are from, and or/reside in any of the areas that were affected by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton,” Pelham wrote in an email.
The donation drive accepted non-perishable dry foods and other essentials such as powdered sports drinks, hand sanitizer, baby formula, plastic sheeting and tarps, and hygiene and sanitation products.
Wilhelm said one of his main concerns was the university would collect an abundance of supplies and not be able to deliver them all. One flight to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, carried roughly 1,200 lbs. of supplies.
Greg Pfeil, a pilot at the avionics engineering center, discussed his involvement and experience with the drive. Pfeil flew the donations to Banner Elk, North Carolina, and Gatlinburg.
“Trying to help these people out that need help, it’s fulfilling, just doing what we can,” Pfeil said.
Pfeil could not see any damages to the area in Gatlinburg as the airport was thirty minutes away from most damages.
However, Pfeil and a colleague were able to see some wreckage in Banner Elk.
Pfeil’s main goal was to help the people in these areas get the necessities and essentials they needed.
"Just to get needed supplies to these people that had nothing left, it’s just unbelievable what happened down there,” Pfeil said. “So we’re just trying to do our little part that we could to get stuff down to them.”
