Oriental, NC Gets Aid from Cape Donors

RIO GRANDE – A truckload of supplies made its way Sept. 21 to a small town along the North Carolina coast ravaged by Hurricane Florence. 
Christopher Chin, of Court House, drove to the tourist town of Oriental, N.C., where he found residents just returning to find most of their homes destroyed. The 16-foot truck filled with donated items from Cape May County residents was a bright spot in an otherwise dire situation.
“The flood waters had finally receded enough so residents who evacuated were just coming back,” Chin said on Sept. 22. “The town is in pretty bad shape.”
Chin said the town has two police officers and they had been working non-stop for two days. They told Chin about many rescues as a result of the storm. One of the officer’s homes was destroyed.
“He had lived in New York when 9-11 happened,” Chin said. “He told me he also went through Hurricane Sandy when it hit up there. Now, this. He didn’t know what he was going to do.”
The police officer, like others in the town, was sleeping at the town hall. A clothesline hung in a conference room where people were washing and drying their clothes, according to Chin.
“We so much appreciate all your efforts,” Oriental Town Manager Diane Miller said. “All of your donations are so necessary to replace what everyone has lost. Because of the storm, our townspeople are unable to work. These donations will replace one bill that they don’t have to worry about now.
“We will rebuild,” she added. “People will be able to come and visit.”
Oriental is a small tourist town of less than 1,000 people, and two of three roads into town were washed out.
Chin said Miller’s son came home to find his roof had caved in. “Because people are just returning to their homes, they are just finding out how bad the damage is,” he noted.
Chin, a member of the Nam Knights of America Motorcycle Club Jersey Coast Chapter, began collecting items two days before Florence hit land. His experience last year collecting for people in Houston, Texas after Hurricane Harvey gave him the confidence that county residents would respond with what was needed.
“I thought we could build on the momentum from last year,” Chin said. “We had four drop-off locations, many donations that we picked up or were dropped off for the townspeople.”
Donations included bottles of water, cleaning supplies, personal hygiene products, and new clothing. A Cape May Girl Scout Brownie Troop 46722 donated a large amount of supplies.
The Oriental town manager grew up in Aldan, Pa., a borough in Delaware County. Her uncle was a Cape May mayor in the 1970s, and she still has family in the area, according to Chin.
A widow whose husband was a Marine, both her sons served in the military, and one is in the police academy. Her daughter married a Marine.
Chin said it was “no-brainer” to help Oriental once he learned how similar it was to Cape May and the town manager’s connection to the area.
“It (delivering the items, seeing the damaged town) was a very humbling experience,” Chin said as he started his drive home Sept. 22. “It really puts things into perspective. It also shows how much Cape May residents care.”
Chin had been using a Facebook page called “Cape May for Florence” which he plans to maintain for future drives. “We’ve established a lot of good contacts during the past two storms that I’d like to keep so when the next storm happens, we can get started collecting right away to help people,” he said.
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.