SALEM, Ohio — Brittany Eisenman has never run a logistics company before, but she has plenty of experience running a household. That proved enough to help her with what God called her to do in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
It started with 35 round bales she wanted to send south to help farmers whose winter feed had been damaged or washed away.
Eisenman lives in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, more than 9 hours away from flood-ravaged communities in western North Carolina. She’d been watching the catastrophe unfold from afar.
Hurricane Helene hit the U.S. at the end of September, moving inland from Florida’s Gulf Coast and pounding the southeastern U.S. with wind and rain, causing catastrophic flooding. More than 200 people were killed in six states, with more than half of the victims located in western North Carolina. The hurricane also knocked out power and destroyed roads and bridges to many small, rural mountain communities.
“One morning I woke up and God laid on my heart that we had some round bales in our fields we knew we wouldn’t need,” she said.
Eisenman kicked off a donation effort that has sent more than 400 round bales, 1,000 square bales and other ag supplies from northwestern Pennsylvania to farmers in need in North Carolina.
“God has multiplied everything that we’ve done since then,” Eisenman said.
Multiply
While she had the bales, Eisenman did not have a way to get them south. She talked to a hay broker who said it would cost thousands of dollars for trucking.
“I was heartbroken,” she said, knowing they could afford to send bales but didn’t have extra cash to pay for transportation. “I asked the Lord for help, and within two or three hours, I had three haulers call and say, ‘We’ll donate the time, the fuel and the rigs.’ I was blown away.”
She connected with someone from the WNC Regional Livestock Center, in Canton, North Carolina. The livestock center, a sale barn in western North Carolina, became an impromptu distribution center for agricultural supplies after the hurricane and has been documenting the donations coming in and out on social media.
Supplies are being taken to individual farms by truck, ATVs, helicopters and, in some cases, pack mules because some roads into the mountainous area are too badly damaged for large trucks with trailers.
Eisenman also tapped into her network in the agricultural community in northwestern Pennsylvania for help. In addition to living and farming in Knox, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Corry, and three children, ages 6, 3 and 2, she previously worked for 10 years as a regional director for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.
Once word spread about Eisenman’s efforts, support came quickly. More than 20 people offered to haul hay, straw and other supplies and more than $12,000 has been donated to help defray transportation costs.
Many farms in the region had a banner hay year, Eisenman said, making it easy for them to donate feed. Even those who couldn’t, like friends in Ohio impacted by drought, offered to help in other ways.
The first load from western Pennsylvania, driven by Michelle Canon, made it to North Carolina on Oct. 9. A second load with trucks donated by McKissick Trucking, in Venango County, arrived the next day.
Groups from Armstrong, Clarion, Warren, Jefferson, Mercer, Erie and Venango counties made trips south in the past week.
The WNC Regional Livestock Center announced on Oct. 13 that it was at capacity for donations. Eisenman is now working to make other connections to get supplies to farmers in need.
“I can’t emphasize this enough. It is not about me,” Eisenman said. “There are so many people who have come alongside this project. First and foremost it’s the Lord doing it all. We said yes to his ask.”
The drive has been done in memory of Mike Cotherman, Eiseman’s neighbor who passed away earlier this year. The bales that started the donation effort were some of the last bales Cotherman made with his family.
“Mike was such a generous man,” she said. “He would have given the shirt off his back to anyone. We learned that generosity to him. There’s no better way to honor his farming legacy.”
Eisenman has been documenting the donation drive and coordinating efforts on Facebook on the page “NW PA Hay Drive; Helping those impacted by hurricane Helene.” To reach her directly, call or text 814-221-4291.
Ohio
The Disaster Relief Haulers, a state-wide nonprofit based in Perrysville, Ohio, is collecting physical donations of ag-related supplies through Oct. 16 to take to impacted communities in eastern Tennessee. The group leaves on Oct. 19 and will also volunteer with recovery and rebuilding efforts on the ground in Tennessee after dropping off supplies.
Levi Foss, one of the group’s founders, said in a Facebook video that this has been the group’s largest undertaking since it was formed in 2019.
There are five drop-off locations in central and eastern Ohio, which can be found here.
Items needed:
- Building supplies: lumber, plywood, nails, etc.
- Tools and equipment: chainsaws, work gloves, rakes, shovels, fence-building tools and fencing materials
- Animal supplies: hay, straw, livestock feed, poultry feed, dog food, cat food, cat litter
- Energy supplies: generators and extension cords
- Water and cleaning supplies: cases of water and flood buckets (5-gallon buckets with cleaning supplies)
The organization primarily assists with disaster relief for farmers and ranchers after wildfires, but it helps with other natural disasters as well.
While the collection of supplies has ended, the group is accepting monetary donations to purchase supplies or pay for fuel. Monetary donations can be made at any Chase Bank location, via PayPal or by mailing a check to P.O. Box 253, Perrysville, OH 44864. All donations are tax-deductible.
