WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — A community-led relief effort in Warner Robins reached a significant milestone Friday as volunteers loaded the first official truckload of supplies bound for flood-stricken Asheville, North Carolina.
The initiative, which began as a personal mission for Warner Robins resident Stephen McLarty, has grown into a city-wide movement over the past few weeks.
"I transferred up there at the beginning of last year for my work, and we planned on moving up there. But things changed," McLarty said. "When I found out about the flooding, I was like, we gotta go up there. I just told them, 'Hey, we're gonna come up every two weeks, we're gonna get what we can come see y'all every two weeks.' And it just blew up to this."
The truck, scheduled to depart early Saturday morning, is filled with essential items including warm clothing, portable heaters, pet food, diapers, and baby formula.
"The biggest thing is keeping warm because it's gonna get cold," McLarty said. "Long sleeve shirts, sweatpants, little portable heaters. And of course, a lot of people forget about the pets. So we got a lot of dog food and maybe diapers, formula because there's a lot of people, you know, new babies."
For McLarty's wife, Kaycee, the motivation to help comes from a place of empathy and community spirit.
"I just feel like I have what I need. It's not this extravagant," Kaycee McLarty said. "I have something that I can help people with and that's what I'm gonna do because I'm not selfish. I just want to help anybody that really needs the help that I can provide."
The initiative has garnered significant support from the Warner Robins community, surprising even the organizers.
"It's a little overwhelming," said Lucy Cabello, one of the volunteers and an employee at Warner Robins Public Works. "I've met so many amazing people who just come in and drop things off. I don't think there's any greater feeling than being able to give people a little bit of their life back."
The team plans to continue making bi-weekly trips to Asheville to provide ongoing support until all of the supplies are gone. Residents wishing to contribute to the relief effort can continue to drop off donations until Oct. 25 at the Public Works complex located at 210 Bay Street in Warner Robins.