Kalona area hurricane relief drive draws statewide attention

KALONA — An effort in Kalona to gather food, water, clothes, toiletries and repair equipment for victims of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton on the east coast has sparked generosity across the state of Iowa, according to organizers.

The supply drive, organized by Kim Miller and her husband, is also coordinated with Cornerstone Community Church. Miller said volunteers had set up a GoFundMe page, an Amazon registry for supplies, and would hold a “fill-a-truck event” at Cornerstone Oct. 18 and 19.

On Sunday afternoon, the goods will travel to partner groups in North Carolina and Tennessee, on trucks from KDM Trucking, a business Miller’s husband co-owns. If the three trucks planned for that purpose aren’t enough, she said they’d dedicate more, until all the supplies was shipped out.

Miller said organizers’ phones “had not stopped ringing” since word of the supply drive made it onto a news broadcast last week.

“We’ve had about six pallets of stuff donated, just from businesses we’ve talked to,” she said. “It has been phenomenal, I have people calling me from all over the state of Iowa … the community is just coming together. It takes my breath away, honestly.”

Miller said she’d organized events before, but had never been involved in a supply drive before this one.

While the unexpectedly large donation-gathering effort has posed a few logistic challenges, she said it was absolutely worth the effort.

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“We just think about, what if that was your mom? What if that was my mom or my sister or my grandma, and at the end of the day, I would want someone like me to help them, if it was my family,” Miller said. “These people have families too … when you start to put yourself in those peoples’ shoes, it becomes a no-brainer. The question becomes, ‘Why wouldn’t you help?’”

Miller said she was thankful for the support from Cornerstone Church, saying it offered credibility to the supply drive, and helped spread word of it.

She also thanked area businesses. Many have reached out to her personally with donations. Others, especially in the Iowa City area, have set up donation bins in their stores, where shoppers can leave contributions to the cause. Some have simply waived prices when the Millers go to pick up supplies.

“We will be the way to get it there, we just need people to fill the trucks,” Miller said. “That could be something as simple as donating one stick of deodorant, or maybe something as big as donating a generator if you’re financially blessed.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com