A western North Carolina family displaced by Hurricane Helene received an early and desperately needed Christmas gift this week, courtesy of Coastal RV.
The Carrollton-based recreational vehicle dealership recently sent a brand new camper on a 6½ -hour drive south across the state border to serve as the family’s temporary home.
Rick and Bev George, customers and friends of Coastal RV owners David and Amy Stoup, made the arrangements through EmergencyRV.org, a nationwide nonprofit established in the wake of the 2018 Paradise, California, wildfire that connects willing donors of new and used RVs with first responders and displaced victims of natural disasters.
The Stoups, after the Georges approached them with the idea, agreed to donate a 28-foot Bunkhouse, which can sleep up to eight people.
Rick said he learned of EMergencyRV.org through family members in Asheville, of North Carolina’s hardest-hit cities. Helene made landfall over the Florida panhandle in late September, cutting a path of destruction across the Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains and bringing more than 30 inches of rain and 100-plus mph wind gusts to western North Carolina.