Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Help is on the way. Troup County won’t be the first to help our neighbors across the state with the impact of Helene, but help is still needed, and it’s on the way.

On Monday morning, volunteers gathered at Confidence Missionary Baptist Church in LaGrange to load much-needed supplies headed for Augusta and South Georgia to help with areas still recovering from Helene.

On Friday, Troup County, along with the cities of Hogansville, West Point and LaGrange, and the Emergency Management Agency, did a collection drive for Georgia hurricane victims. During the four-hour collection drive, the county collected a trailer full of bath tissue, paper towels, diapers, canned goods, bottled water and other needed items to donate to the storm victims.

The church had also been collecting donations and Pastor Michael Jackson arranged for a truck to take the items to the affected areas, so the donation drives joined forces.

“We did it because about a year and a half ago, when we experienced all the tornadoes in Troup County, so many communities reached out to us and helped us out. Even though we weren’t impacted by these hurricanes … we felt it was up to us to offer a hand to these other communities that were impacted,” said TCSO Lt. Stewart Smith.

“We’re certainly grateful to the community that came out and donated on Friday and even before then, to local churches and other organizations,” Smith said.

Smith said the church’s efforts helped out a lot because they did not have to arrange transportation for the items they collected.

“When we found out Pastor Michael Jackson had a truck going down that way, it just worked out for the best,” Smith said.