Charities working to accelerate recovery from Hurricane Helene damage in Southeast Georgia

Emergency responders and volunteers from the metro Atlanta area are working to provide relief and recovery assistance following the damage Hurricane Helene inflicted on Georgia.

They’re trying to figure out basics like how to get fresh food to families affected by the storm, especially in hard-hit areas like Coffee County and the city of Douglas.

Channel 2’s Linda Stouffer spoke to workers and helpers who are showing that they are Southeast Strong in central and southeast Georgia, as it still looks like the hurricane was last week in some neighborhoods.

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Letacia Avila, the executive director of Catholic Charities of South Georgia, said the damage was shocking even weeks after the storm.

“It’s even now, a month after the storm. I would say about three-quarters of the houses were covered with tarps and there was a lot of tree damage,” Avila said.

First responders and volunteers from the metro area, such as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and Catholic Charities of South Georgia, are setting up a recovery center at St. Paul Catholic Church in Coffee County.

“It’s breathtaking,” Brian Burgess, Association of St. Vincent de Paul, said of the damage.

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Some of their efforts include sharing hygiene kits and crucial immediate assistance, such as providing gift cards and access to food assistance.

“Ironically, people’s hearts are still glad. I don’t know how they can do it, but they were so grateful, you know, that we visited them,” Avila said.

One family, who still has no electricity, received a grill so they could cook for their children.

“We cannot forget rural Georgia,” Avila said. ‘Many of the people we meet work in agriculture. These are the people who grow the food that you and I eat,” adding that we cannot forget them and the help needed to move forward.

Burgess said it’s a good thing that people care and that someone is telling the stories of those affected by the storm.

Catholic Charities of South Georgia says they are in long-term recovery and will remain in the community to continue connecting people with the help they need.

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