A single phone call saved the day.
Larry and Pam Jesion weren’t sure how the Byllesby Center was going to be able to hold its monthly food pantry and senior box distribution on Oct. 17.
“Golden Harvest — rightly so — has devoted all their energy to disaster relief and storm recovery, so we got an announcement last week that any scheduled shipments for this month were cancelled. We weren’t going to get our supplies for our monthly food pantry and senior boxes,” said Larry Jesion, the outreach’s director.
When the hurricane hit, the Byllesby Center at the corner of Greene and Eve Streets in the Harrisburg neighborhood ramped up from one weekly meal to six meals a week. As of Oct. 21, they will go to three meals a week. But without the assistance from Golden Harvest, there wouldn’t be anything for the 40 or so families who depend on the Byllesby Center’s pantry and the 30 people who get senior food boxes.
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Then, Jesion received a phone call from Elisabeth Curry, logistics manager for Buona Caffe.
Curry and seven or eight friends had created a Facebook chat they simply called “hurricane relief” and started collecting items for their neighbors in Richmond and Columbia counties, trying to fill immediate needs.
A big donation from a town in Tennessee that was hit last year by an F3 tornado came in over the weekend of Oct. 11-13 and filled Curry’s family’s business warehouse with pallets of items.
“It looked like a Costco exploded,” said Curry of the donation.
One reason she reached out to the Byllesby Center was due to its location.
“So many people in Richmond County especially Harrisburg are under resourced. They were dealing with issues before the storm and it only got worse after,” she said.
Pam Jesion said her jaw dropped when they saw how large of a donation it was. At first, they weren’t sur they could take it because of its size. Not only were there non-perishable food items, but Curry had a variety other goods that people in the community could use.
“There was fresh produce and breads. Bread isn’t something we normally get, hygiene products, first aid kits,” said Larry Jesion.
And the donations didn’t only benefit the Byllesby Center, Jesion said.
“We’ve taken Lamar-Milledge (Elementary School) under our wing; anything for kids will go there. The shelters – we try to help out,” he said.
Pam Jesion said there were donations of baby formula and diapers that they planned to get to another non-profit that focused on women and children.
Curry’s outreach to her community began on the day of the storm even though she was in North Dakota for her sister’s wedding. The IronMan competition had been scheduled for Sept. 29, and they’d made protein packs with items such as cheese, fruit and nuts as well as dozens of turkey sandwiches.
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With the power to the shop disrupted, those items would’ve gone bad except for the quick-thinking Curry who reached out to the Rev. Eric Biddy, Saint Paul’s Church rector, who calls himself a “Buona loyalist” and regular customer.
She said “We can’t sell it. Why don’t you give it away?” Biddy said.
With Curry’s guidance from afar, he went into the darkened business and retrieved the items.
The church had power after the storm and opened it up to the community for people to get out of the heat, use electricity and charge their devices. They also fed those who came through the doors.
In addition, Biddy said they took the sandwiches to people who were trapped in their neighborhoods near Bransford Road in the days after the storm.
He called the Currys “mundane” heroes who saw a need and filled it.
“They said – ‘we have this and want to put it to use for the good of the community.’ In some ways, mundane heroism is the real heroism, because many would say ‘oh rats. We lost a bunch of money,’ and that was the end,” he said.
As for Curry and her friends, a group without a formal name who simply referred to themselves “The Good Humans,” she said she loved how the community came together for the good of one another and hopes that spirit will continue as life resumes a sense of normalcy.
“If we could spend an hour a week on what could be done for your community to make it better,” she mused.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years and is a Georgia Press Association award winner. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
The Real Person!
Author Pat Curry acts as a real person and passed all tests against spambots. Anti-Spam by CleanTalk.
Consider yourself one of the good humans. It was your article on the center that got the r whole ball rolling.