RALEIGH, N.C. — The people in the mountains of North Carolina are still recovering from Helene, and at this year's State Fair, there was an effort to help those impacted by collecting much needed food and supplies.

What You Need To Know

  • The Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina receives and delivers donations for the western parts of the state 

  • The food bank received 18 truckload of donations 

  • If you need help, contact the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina to let them know what you need and to schedule a delivery

Jason Kanawati Stephany, vice president of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, has been walking through the doors of the food bank for the last year. For the last 8 years, he’s been involved working with other food banks.

He said this work is important to him.

“I know what it's like to be in a situation where you're, you don't know where your next meal might come from, and you might not even have the resources or a home to go back to,” Stephany said.

This week marks week one of sorting through the donations received at the N.C. State Fair for people affected in the western part of the state.

With 18 truckloads coming in, he said this was the people at the food banks way of helping in the immediate aftermath of a storm like Helene.

“Hunger is absolutely a severe crisis right now. And the hurricane seasons every single year just makes that crisis even worse,” Stephany said.

The Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina gets its food directly from farmers, retailers, manufacturers and people and distributes it out daily. 

There are six branches across the state, including locations in Winston-Salem, Charlotte and Asheville. 

The Asheville location, however, also took a hard hit from the storm.

“They completely, they lost their entire building. So, their entire building was destroyed. That storm literally ripped the walls off of the building,” Stephany said.

This makes Stephany and the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina's mission all the more meaningful to help those in need.

“During the storm, a lot of folks in the aftermath of a storm don't actually have access to consistent power, cooking, fuel and things like that. So what we try to do is collect the products that people need most,” Stephany said.

After all the donations are sorted out, categorized and packed up, they will be shipped out.

The food bank says this will take place for the next week or two.