Locals remark on efforts to aid Gulf Coast hurricane victims

Following the devastation on the Gulf Coast, citizens in Alleghany felt the call to lend a hand. Many were left in need after Hurricane Katrina devastated residents in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Alleghany residents responded with an outpouring of support, whether through financial, material gifts and personal service.

During the Oct. 6 meeting of the Alleghany County Board of Education, elementary school guidance counselor Patti Cox, said students in the county had raised $10,203.05 to aid the American Red Cross’ relief efforts in the Gulf. Russ Pearson, Gill Thadani and George White, all representing the Wilkes-Alleghany Chapter of the American Red Cross, presented the school principals with certificates, which they received on behalf of the students, facility and staff of their schools. As of Tuesday, even more projects to raise money for hurricane victims were still taking place.

Blue Ridge Electric

Faron Atwood, a board member on the board of education, (during the meeting) expressed to the board what he had experienced while in Mississippi. Atwood was one of four Blue Ridge Electric linemen from Alleghany County who traveled to the affected areas to assist in restoring electricity.

“God’s blessed me and put me in a position where I have a skill that I can go down there and help. If you’re going to give your money, time, food or blood, those folks honestly need everything you can give them,” he said. “To see the destruction and the houses with trees that have fallen through them, cars that are crushed and to see the kids running around in the yards with no air conditioning, no food, no running water, sewage coming up through the drain out into the community and neighborhoods, it’s tough. They need everything they can get down there. It’s a humbling experience to go down there and be back in Sparta.”

Atwood continued, noting the Mississippi residents made him and others feel at home.

“The people down there are the nicest people you’re ever going to meet,” he said. “They would stop by on the side of the road, knowing that these folks don’t have anything and that they’ve gone to a FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) shelter."

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