Calypso community bands together for western NC

CALYPSO — Last week, Calypso Fire Department trucks were parked outside, and the station was packed full of paper towels, toilet paper, toiletries, diapers, wipes, potato chips, bottled water, and more supplies for the victims of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. It was enough for two tractor-trailer loads that were trucked to Madison County and the small town of Marshall over the weekend.

“It started with a phone call Sunday morning,” said Calypso resident Roger Davis. The result was an outpouring of donations from Calypso and surrounding communities Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

“It has taken a lot of people to make this happen,” Gail Herring, who volunteered to help gather and organize the supplies, told Duplin Journal. “We’ve had local fire departments that all provided support. Industries and schools, just everybody has been so wonderful. We also had some students from North Duplin in the middle school that have done some volunteering.”

Calypso Fire Chief John Davis said he made some contacts with companies Cash Trucking and Tomahawk Trucking to line up the trucks to deliver the supplies to Madison County. “We’ve had a lot of problems with storms like this, too and they helped us, so we want to help them.”

The townspeople also partnered with NC Baptists on Mission on the supply drive. “Baptists on Mission has several thousand trained volunteers,” said Paul Langston, missions mobilization consultant with NC Baptists on Mission. “Up there, we’ve connected with churches giving out food, baby items, etc. We’ve got 11 recovery sites up there with volunteers going in.”

Teresa Gionet said she’s only lived in Calypso for four years, but she has been impressed with how the community bands together to help others. “I’ve never seen anything like this town,” she said. “They have fundraisers all the time for people, and now this. It’s wonderful.”

None of the Calypso residents wanted to take credit for all the supplies that were donated. Instead, Roger Davis said, “This was all the Lord’s work. He deserves all the credit.”