North Wilkesboro Speedway continues as distribution hub for Hurricane Helene relief

Close to a dozen guardsmen are assisting the Speedway in breaking down items sending the supplies across 72 locations and counting across western North Carolina.

Close to a dozen guardsmen are assisting the Speedway in breaking down items sending the supplies across 72 locations and counting across western North Carolina.

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Close to a dozen guardsmen are assisting the Speedway in breaking down items sending the supplies across 72 locations and counting across western North Carolina.

The entrance to North Wilkesboro Speedway is filled with pallets of water, diapers, and supplies all for victims of Hurricane Helene. The effort has grown drastically within a nearly two-week span.

"We expected just 5-10 trucks, we got 47 trucks from FEMA and we had a total of 70 trucks the first week they came in, and that's tractor and trailer loads," said Denna Parsons, office manager for the Speedway.

Close to a dozen guardsmen are assisting the speedway in breaking down items sending the supplies across 72 locations and counting across western North Carolina.

It's not just federal partners sending aid, but also people from states away.

"Today we had a lady that drove all the way from Pittsburgh with a box truck and she brought bed frames," Parsons said. "She brought bed frames from a group of nuns that live up there. They're in their 80s, they knew that a nursing home had gotten destroyed and those residents had to sleep on cots so they took their own beds, put their mattresses on the floor, took their bed frames apart and shipped their bed frames to us."

Wilkes County natives Bailey Brown and Madison Church spent their afternoon dropping off items at North Wilkesboro Speedway. They say it was important for them to help in this way.

"I feel like the mountains are really the heart of North Carolina, it's what makes North Carolina so special at least to me," Brown said. "So to see so much devastation and so much work to be done in our mountains is really heartbreaking."

These donations come as the Speedway prepares for races next week. The goal is to move and consolidate these items, without pausing their distribution efforts.