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Youngstown businessman leading local effort to help North Carolina hurricane victims

B.Lee35 min ago
Nov. 15—After Hurricane Helene struck North Carolina, Michael Sanchez began wondering whether the full impact of the storm was being accurately portrayed by public officials and the media.

The owner of A/M Automotive in Youngstown decided to check it out for himself.

What he found was a stark reality, a realization that many residents in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina lost their homes, lost their livelihoods and lost much of what they recognized as their normal, everyday lives when the hurricane swept through their area in late September.

Sanchez also discovered, weeks after the hurricane had passed through, many North Carolinians continued to struggle while living in tents or without heat or electricity in their homes.

"We definitely just saw devastation," Sanchez said. "It's hard to explain. Everything was destroyed. You look around and you look at people's businesses. We were on one main drag where the businesses, the doors were blown apart, the walls were pushed out. There were semi-trailers halfway on top of buildings and all kinds of rubbish and trees and garbage."

"It's decimated," he added. "It's rough."

The 55-year-old Lewiston resident and his wife, Cheryl, decided to do what they could to help. After conferring with individuals involved in relief efforts, they connected with Jason Seidel, a coordinator overseeing a donation center in North Carolina. After getting a list of items storm victims needed, the Sanchez family began a collection drive, receiving support from their own church, Amherst Baptist, local businesses like Spurback Chiropractic and many of their customers at A/M Automotive.

At the end of the drive, they secured enough donations to fill a 22-foot car hauler with in-demand items, including heaters, propane, diapers, baby formula, generators and dehumidifiers.

Sanchez drove the trailer down to North Carolina at the end of October, delivering items to Marion, a city just over 35 miles away from one of the hardest-hit communities, Asheville.

Last week, Sanchez returned to North Carolina, this time to deliver a fifth-wheel camper donated by Town of Porter residents George and Maurine Brown. The camper is serving as a temporary home for Audrey Brennan, a single mother of two whose house was destroyed in a mudslide.

"Just to see the smiles and just the looks on their faces, it was something," Sanchez said.

While they are still dealing with impacts from the storm, Sanchez said he gets a sense that there's still a strong sense of togetherness and community among people in North Carolina.

"Honestly, the mood didn't seem bad," he said. "Granted this was three weeks after it happened, but it seemed like everybody was just coming together and everybody was working together and that everybody wanted to help each other. From what I could see."

But there's still a lot of work to do.

The Sanchez family and others are now working to address one of the biggest lingering issues: a lack of quality housing.

Mike Sanchez said many residents in Marion and surrounding communities are still living in tents and could use RVs and campers to make their lives easier.

A/M Automotive is now working with Camping World to collect donated trailers and campers for delivery to families in need in North Carolina. Organizers are asking individuals who may have used and still usable RVs or camping trailers to consider donating them to the cause. All donated vehicles will be inspected by Camping World before being delivered to needy families. The effort has been dubbed "Project Your Home."

"My big thing is seeing what I saw, these people, they are not getting the help they need as far as shelters," Mike Sanchez said.

"I have myself and a couple of other people who will tow them down there so that's not an issue," he added. "All we're looking to do is purchase trailers for these people."

Sanchez said he and his wife intend to keep doing what they can to assist storm recovery efforts in North Carolina primarily because there's still much more work to do. Now that the storm has been over for several weeks and media attention has largely waned, he said there's less public understanding about lingering issues impacting people the storm left behind. He thanked the many individuals, groups and businesses in Niagara County that have helped so far and said he hopes more people will consider contributing to the cause.

"I believe the Lord works in mysterious ways and this is one of those ways," he said.

"I've always given to this and given to that," he added. "I always wanted to help somebody that's down if I could. When I saw this and saw the stories coming out and then I saw these stories firsthand and I talked to these people, I just didn't want them to be forgotten about. That's what they feel too. They feel like they are going to be forgotten about."

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