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