Maria Christian, a Random Acts supporter, was at home in southwest Virginia when Hurricane Helene hit in 2024. She watched the damage done to her community as it happened. Then, she saw her community coming together and providing support to those who needed it. Maria knew she had to be part of that relief effort. She stated this sense of determination clearly: “This community raised me. For all its faults, the Appalachian Mountains are a tight knit, ferociously loyal group of people, and they’re my people. I don’t have the mental fortitude to be out there digging through the muck, but I DO have a background in nonprofit work, and a history of working with Random Acts. When it was time to act, I knew who to reach out to immediately.”
Checking in with local shelters on social media, Maria was able to put together a list of supplies — from food to personal care — that people actually needed. She was strategic. That meant shopping in multiple local stores to make sure she got the most for the money she had secured from Random Acts’ Natural Disaster Recovery Fund. She headed to a local grocery store chain where she could use her own points to stretch the dollars. Then, she went to a dollar store that had better pricing on hygiene items. For drinks, she hit a third store where she knew staff members who could point her toward sales and coupons.
The Delivery
After purchasing the supplies, Maria packed up and dropped them off at Bristol Motor Speedway, the local donation hub. “The process was very swift, as there was constantly a line of donors waiting to help. There were a few large trucks, but for the most part, it was individuals like me, their cars stuffed full of anything they could carry,” she noted. Donations and volunteers poured in from across the country into the hub. The National Guard organized all of it. While damage from Hurricane Helene was devastating to individuals and communities, the magnitude of the help shown at the drop-off also made a profound impact. Maria shared, “Overall, I feel a sense of sadness for everyone, and everything, lost. But there’s also a sense of hope, because for all the damage I saw, I saw countless more people doing everything in their power to help.”
If your hometown has been struck by a disaster and you want to be one of the people providing support, take some inspiration from Maria. Learn more about how you can perform your own act here.
