HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- The destruction that Hurricane Helene wrought on the lands of North Carolina has left the state's road infrastructure devastated, making car travel—including by first responders—difficult.
To help fill in that gap, hundreds of private helicopter owners and companies have donated their time and machines to help rescue those stranded and deliver much-needed supplies.
Included in that is a Richmond company.
Crews work hard in the hangar of Heloair at Richmond International Airport to keep the fleet ready to take to the sky.
For the past week and a half, two of their helicopters have been doing just that out of a different airport, part of ongoing relief efforts in the wake of Helene.
"The helicopter is really the vehicle of choice at this point in western North Carolina as the infrastructure has been just devastated," Heloair president Whit Baldwin said.
Baldwin says he made the decision after seeing the level of destruction and adds they've done similar work for decades.
"As far south as Florida for Andrew, way back in '94, I think, or '93. Up north -- Sandy, in New Jersey, and Isabel, which was here," Baldwin said.
He says they found an airport in Hickory, North Carolina, about 60 miles northwest of Charlotte, to work out of. Once there, the calls for help started coming in.
"How we got going is really something God-like. People just found us and I don't really know how they found us. And they would call and we would put the mission together," Baldwin said.
Those missions have included delivering much-needed medical supplies to finding loved ones for family -- who can't get to them because of washed-out roads.
"The very first day we were there, I got a text from my team we had delivered insulin to a man who was in a diabetic coma," Baldwin said. "And I don't know who this man is, or how we found him, or how we even got the insulin. I don't know the story. I just know that we got it to him and it saved his life."
But Baldwin adds, that while they're down to help the community has been helping them right back, bringing supplies to keep the mission going, like when he put out an ask for cold weather gear.
"Next morning, I had a text from someone named Sarah, who I have no idea who it is or how she got my phone number and she had a truckload of blankets, sleeping bags, and hoodies to the airport, and off they went," Baldwin said. "It's humbling that we have a gift that can help people so quickly and the benevolence and the willingness for people to help us is really overwhelming."
Baldwin says Heloair isn't alone in what they're doing -- as hundreds of helicopter owners or companies are pitching in as well.
He says while North Carolina is looking at a hard road when it comes to long-term recovery from the damage -- he plans to keep his company down there as long as he can and is needed.
"It's a unique gift that God has given us and we're doing our best to ensure that we're applying it where we can."
If you would like to help Heloair continue its mission, you can donate to this GoFundMe page. The effort had raised over $23,000 by midday Tuesday. Baldwin added his church, Hope Church, had also donated $25,000 to the effort as well.
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