On Sept. 29, 2024, Andrea Reeves found herself at the Ashe County airport after attending church. Her community, and western North Carolina as a whole, was in the earliest stages of trying to assess the impact of Hurricane Helene, which had barreled through the region three days earlier.
Volunteers were needed at the local air strip, and Reeves was asked to assist in the supply drops.
Reeves is a realtor in the area and had no experience working at an airport. At 2:00 p.m., the first plane arrived.
Eighteen days and 1,043 plane flights later, Reeves and her crew of volunteers were able to step back, and think about the magnitude of relief that had come in from the skies. “The aviation family is just amazing,” she reflected.
Three months after the storm with the holidays approaching, that aviation family’s relationship with western North Carolina and Ashe County continued to soar with “Operation Toy Drop.”
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Planes as sleighs, volunteers as elves, and Santa’s Ashe County workshop
In late October, the day before students returned to school, Superintendent Eisa Cox was sharing a meal with her staff, and she mentioned an art project for students to create ornaments for pilots who had dropped supplies. It was a way for the students and the school district to show thanks.
Reeves was still communicating with pilots and members of the Carolina Aviators Network, and together they suggested a toy drive for area kids.
Christina Worley, a 6th grade educator at Westwood Elementary, had volunteered with Reeves at the airstrip and became the district liaison for ornament creation and putting together the list of students for the toy drive.
Elementary school students made airplanes with popsicle sticks, middle schoolers made yarn ornaments, and high schoolers made ornaments with pottery. Worley initially came back to Reeves with a list of over 320 kids for the toy drive. They increased that number by 100 and on Dec. 6, planes — or rather sleighs — started to arrive with toys. For example, The Dale Jr. Foundation donated 550 bike helmets.
The next weekend the hanger became Santa’s workshop, and the Ashe County volunteers served as elves. Area churches supplied food for volunteers and pilots.
Worley wants people outside of the region to know just how appreciative they are for all of the relief and supplies sent to Western North Carolina. “We couldn’t do all this without everyone’s help,” she said.
She also added, “everybody here is mountain strong, as you hear, and they’re going to recover from this, and it’s going to be all right in the end.”
