LUMBERTON, Texas — Volunteers in Lumberton are helping to raise donations to help out victims of Hurricane Helene.
Aaron Crowley with One City Church and his family along with other Southeast Texas volunteers are working with an organization known as Comeback Coolers. They are banding together to help those affected by Helene.
The Crowley family started volunteering in disaster relief efforts after Hurricane Harvey ravaged Southeast Texas in 2017.
Crowley and fellow volunteer Britni McPayne of Praise Church are rounding up all the donations they can muster, such as money, refreshments and 42-quart coolers.
Crowley says donors and volunteers from the area are all too familiar with the hardships destructive hurricanes can cause. He says seeing footage of the devastation online was enough to convince him to take action.
"It took me back to my times in Harvey and it took me back to the times I first ever volunteered in disaster recovery. My first train of thought is, how can I help? How can I pitch in? How can I link up with somebody local, or maybe even in the national level," Crowley said.
When the donations are collected by Wednesday, October 2 at noon, Crowley says the coolers and other items will be loaded on an 18-wheeler and sent right into the heart of the devastation on the east coast.
Crowley says he wants to help Comeback Coolers' mission on the east coast just as they have helped victims right here at home.
"Comeback Coolers started as a as a gesture of goodwill in 2018 during Harvey, and the organization blessed Vidor during Harvey and recently brought coolers to Kirbyville when they flooded. And so we're sort of a refreshment to people in the affected area," said Crowley.
Comeback Coolers will be accepting donations at One City Church in Beaumont from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, October 1 and the Lollipop Stop Children's Center in Vidor from now until noon on Wednesday, October 2.
For more information on how and what to donate, you can visit the Comeback Coolers' website or Facebook page.