Nonprofit group provides critical supplies to Helene survivors from the air

Operation Airdrop is collecting donations and getting them directly to communities cut off from ground access by Hurricane Helene.

Transcript

00:00The need is great for people whose lives are impacted by

00:03healing and help is coming in from all over the country.

00:07A Texas-based non-profit organization called Operation Airdrop is bringing aid from the air.

00:14Shawn Carroll joins us from Operation Airdrop. Thanks for being with us.

00:18Absolutely, it's great to be here.

00:20And Shawn, can you tell us about Operation Airdrop and the important work you're all doing?

00:26Sure, so Operation Airdrop was created to fill a niche need during disasters.

00:32There's often moments when a disaster will hit, but the ground isn't open for actual trucks to get in to bring supplies.

00:37And so what we do with Operation Airdrop is we have private pilots who come in,

00:41they bring their own planes, use their own fuel, and start to carry supplies to regional airports

00:47or airstrips anywhere we can land that aren't accessible via ground, so when trucks can't come in.

00:53So that's how we got started, and we've been moving for about a week now doing that.

00:58Now Helene has washed out roads. What kinds of relief are you able to bring to isolated communities?

01:05So because we use general aviation, so that's going to be much on the smaller side for all of our planes,

01:11we're bringing as much as we can. We're loading anywhere from, we've had some folks take out a load of 80 pounds

01:16all the way up to several thousand. It just depends on the size of the plane that we have and who's volunteering.

01:22But we're taking things like diapers, we're taking water, we're taking food, medical supplies,

01:28as much as we can, baby formula, you name it, we are bringing it as much as we can and as fast as we can out there.

01:35And how is Operation Airdrop able to get these, you mentioned obviously, of course,

01:40different kind of aircraft can hold different amounts of weight. Can you break down the process a little bit more?

01:46Sure. So the way it works for us is once we get the word out that we'll be in that location,

01:51we start listing a donation site. So right now our donation site, actually a Walmart and Concord,

01:57everyone comes there initially to bring in their load. We get that loaded up into a truck to get it over to our hangar at the airport.

02:03At the hangar, we sort and organize based on type. So it'll fit its formula, if it's food,

02:09if it's something specific that needs to go into categories. And then as the pilots come in, they check in,

02:15they tell us their payload. So if they say 400 pounds, they go back over to our load masters and say,

02:20I can carry 400 pounds, and then they get a pallet going to get loaded up into their plane.

02:24And then as soon as they can, they get out there and fly over.

02:28Now, this program is run by volunteers using donated goods. How can people help you, your mission?

02:34Sure. So I would say for us, the most important thing that you can do is follow our Facebook.

02:39That's where all of our news comes in. So you can see where to sign up to donate.

02:43If you want to send any kind of supplies, what specific things we might need,

02:47depending on the ask that we get from the community, and then go from there.

02:51All right, Sean Carroll, the media director with Operation Airdrop.

02:55We appreciate all the work you and the other volunteers are doing.

02:58Absolutely. Thanks so much for having me.

03:01Great work being done there.