Guest column: An open letter of thanks to the Sumter community for donations, volunteering
Having lived in Sumter for nearly 30 years now, I have often thought "someone should write a letter thanking the community for that," and I now feel compelled to do so!
Monday morning one of our local couples walked into the airport and announced that they were going to use their small plane to take supplies into the Spruce Pine, North Carolina, airport. As you know, many North Carolina communities have been devastated, and on Monday, the only supplies going in to this one were through their local airport. It is a small airport in the middle of the mountains and can handle only the smaller aircraft but had become a lifeline.
As many great ideas do, it grew very quickly and turned into an airlift operation I will forever be thankful to have been a part of. The original thought was to use one aircraft and let a few people know to bring supplies to the airport. By Tuesday morning, it had grown into an eight-aircraft operation willing to fly for multiple days. Word went out to our community, and the response was overwhelming. In 48 hours, nearly 8 tons of critical supplies were dropped off at the Sumter airport and airlifted into Spruce Pine. There were 24 round trips made consisting of 120 hours of donated aircraft and pilot time transporting nearly 3 tons of water, thousands of diapers and baby formula, children's medicine, chain saws, clothes, canned foods, toilet paper, pet food, cash and the prayers of thousands of Sumter's community members. For two days, cars continually pulled up to the awning at the Sumter County Airport and dropped off money, supplies and prayers. The first aircraft landed Monday evening, and the last launch went out Thursday as I sit and write this. Each aircraft was met at Spruce Pine, first by a group of people who had made it out to the airport and were loading supplies directly onto four-wheelers that quickly disappeared down devastated roads and finally by Wednesday afternoon, an army of volunteers who swarmed the airplane and passed supplies hand to hand to waiting vehicles. Each time the aircraft left the Sumter Airport it was thought that not much more lift would be needed, and each time during the three-hour round trip the airport lobby would refill with supplies that were then sorted, weighed and prepped for delivery. It was obvious by Wednesday evening that there were supplies beginning to make their way over land into Spruce Pine, but for 48 hours, we were all part of critical delivery of needed supplies. I am reminded of an old sailor's prayer: Oh Lord, Your sea is so big and my ship is so small, have mercy. It's easy to be overwhelmed in the face of large-scale tragedy and feel that there is no way to contribute. I am thankful this morning that I live in a community that steps up and gets involved.
Amidst the devastation that will take years to recover from, there are extraordinary things going on. I got to watch one first hand, and you were part of it! Thank you.