Charlotte businesses mobilize to aid tornado victims. Here’s how you can help.

In the aftermath of deadly tornadoes that killed at least 70 people and destroyed thousands of homes in six states last week, Charlotte is reaching out to help.

Twisters covered 227 miles from Arkansas into Kentucky, McClatchy reported, and was the “most severe tornado event in Kentucky’s history.” It hit western Kentucky the hardest. Deaths from tornadoes also have been reported in five other Central U.S. states, too, including Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri, McClatchy reported Sunday.

By Monday, Charlotte-area companies like Lowe’s and Blood Connection, and local nonprofit chapters of Samaritan’s Purse and American Red Cross, had jumped in to help.

Here’s a look at what businesses and nonprofits are doing, and how people can help.

What businesses are doing

Lowe’s is donating $1 million to support immediate relief and recovery efforts with its disaster relief partners including the American Red Cross and Lowe’s nonprofit Pro customers. The assistance will provide emergency shelter, critical relief supplies and food.

“It’s heartbreaking to see the devastation this has caused for so many families and communities this close to the holidays,” Marvin Ellison, Mooresville-based Lowe’s CEO, said in a statement. “We couldn’t be more proud of the way our teams have already stepped up to help their neighbors.”

On Saturday, Lowe’s workers boarded up the Mayfield, Kentucky, police department and city hall. In Bowling Green, Kentucky, workers donated 60 cases of water and supplies to subdivision residents and 50 battery-powered lanterns to a senior living home.

Lowe’s will send its new Lowe’s Tool Rental Disaster Response Trailer to the Mayfield store to provide equipment such as generators and chainsaws. Lowe’s also is helping its employees with financial assistance through its Employee Relief Fund.

Kasby’s by the Lake at 14040 S. Tryon St. in Steele Creek is also pitching in. “We have a truck, warehouse storage space, and volunteers so we’d like to help,” the indoor and outdoor furniture store said on its Facebook page. “We are working with organizations on the ground to help.”

And on Saturday, Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian nonprofit based in Boone, deployed disaster response teams to Mayfield and Monette, Arkansas. “We want to come alongside these families and help them start to put their lives back together,” said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse.

Samaritan’s Purse also sent tools and equipment from Texas and North Carolina, along with teams of volunteers to help families salvage personal belongings, clean up downed trees and tarp damaged roofs.

How you can help

▪ The Blood Connection, a nonprofit community blood center serving 70 hospitals in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, is seeking donations to help people injured by the tornadoes, The State newspaper in Columbia reported.

Donors can make an appointment by going to thebloodconnection.org/donate or by calling 864-255-5000.

▪ The American Red Cross Greater Carolinas Region, made up of five chapters in North and South Carolina, is accepting financial donations.

▪ Samaritan’s Purse is accepting financial donations and is seeking volunteers who can start serving Tuesday. The host church is First Assembly of God, 111 North Sutton Lane, in Mayfield.

▪ Donate new items to Kasby’s by the Lake from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Wednesday. Items needed include toiletries, drinking water, gloves, small children’s Christmas toys like games, action figures and Barbie dolls, tarps and duct tape, solar and crank-powered flashlights and lanterns, bedding, non-perishable foods, clothing and baby supplies. For a complete list, visit kasbys.com/relief.

bserver.com.

This story was originally published December 13, 2021 at 1:32 PM.