CHARLOTTE — Christmas this year in the Carolina mountains likely won’t be the same for many families after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc.
But Channel 9′s Hunter Sáenz met a group in Charlotte who’s stepping in to help save Christmas for families in the mountains.
Whitney Black was one of the volunteers who spent hours wrapping gifts.
“To be able to help them is a joy for me,” Black told Sáenz.
But these gifts aren’t for her family, they’re for a family she doesn’t personally know.
“It makes you grateful for what you have and that you’re not going through this,” Black said.
After the wrath of Helene flooded what many here refer to as “God’s Country,” celebrating Christmas wasn’t a top priority. But the Changing Lives Together Foundation saw an opportunity to help.
“It just came to us as really kind of a no-brainer,” said Mike Dascal, the founder and executive director of the group. “It was really heartbreaking, just to hear so many stories and see it first-hand. We saw the devastation and just felt a need to do something for that community.”
He put out a call for families to become sponsors, and they raised a lot of money.
“We’ve had over 500 people donate from 25 states across the country, and we’ve raised over $150,000 over the last three, four weeks,” Dascal said.
Those sponsors worked with volunteers like Black, who went through the wishlist of one family and bought it all. There were big wants from the kiddos, and desperate needs from the parents, too.
“Some crib mattresses, a mattress for mom and dad, a chainsaw for the family to help with some downed trees,” Black said.
With the help of sponsors and the foundation, gifts were purchased for 25 families. They were then boxed, wrapped, and marked by hand, ready for delivery.
“These people are going through a lot, and you know, some of these impacts are not only temporary, like from a housing standpoint, but they’ve lost loved ones. They’ve lost family members. They’re going to be devastated for a long time, and it’s just, it just feels like it’s the right thing to do,” Dascal said. “We’re one big family, right? We all have each other’s back, and we’re all one big family.”
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A family’s support after tragedy
For weeks, the Vandelogt family has been shopping and wrapping gifts for one of those Western North Carolina families.
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Marissa Pack and her partner, Tyler, are the proud partners of three children. They live in Fairview, a small town outside of Asheville that was no match for the remnants of Helene.
“We were just going to go to mom and dad’s because the weather was bad. The power was out, mom and dad had a wood stove type deal, so you know, the kids just wanted to go to Nana’s,” Marissa said.
What typically was a 10-minute drive turned into four hours through hell on that September day.
“Roads were out, power lines were down, trees were down, we had to cut our way out,” Marissa said. “When we got there, it was just gone. My whole childhood was gone. The house I was raised in was gone.”
Also gone were Marissa’s parents. Terri and Freddie Pack were both washed away with their home. Their bodies were found days later.
“We lost nine family members,” Marissa said. “Just gone, they had no warning.”
Grief has been a journey, along with rebuilding their lives.
But on a dreary December day, not even the rain could wash the smiles off the faces of this family when they met the angels who adopted them this Christmas.
First, they met the big man himself as Santa Claus made a stop and checked the list twice.
“Give me five! Very good, you made the nice list!” Santa told the Pack children.
The joy on their faces was clearly seen and felt by those looking on. Then it was off to a table full of toys to pick a few for themselves.
Nearly everything on their wishlist was bought, wrapped, and delivered.
Marissa was simply overwhelmed by the generosity.
“It means more than I could explain,” she told Sáenz. “I can’t give my kids their Nana and their pa back, but I can replace, like at mom’s, they had a playroom.”
And with the help of the Vandelogt family, that playroom is coming.
“It gave my kids like a sense of hope,” Marissa said. “Everything’s going to be OK, and we’re going to be OK, and these strangers are going to make sure that we’re OK.”
Marissa said the act of kindness taught her kids that “giving back when someone is at their lowest is the most important thing.”
The Changing Lives Together Foundation and its sponsors spent thousands of dollars on each of the 25 families, and every family also got $1,500 gift cards to Walmart and cash to help them out.
(VIDEO >> This Christmas, some kids are looking for the ultimate gift: a family)
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