It’s been just over two months since Hurricane Helene touched down, and East Georgia communities are still recovering from the impact of job, food and work insecurity directly tied to the natural disaster.
Save the Closet, a non-profit organization from Panama City Beach, Fla., visited the city of Thomson in McDuffie County on Wednesday to counter some of these needs with a free clothing giveaway.
Support from Panama City Beach
This clothing giveaway program was founded by Katy Lingle Penson in 2018 after Hurricane Michael devastated the Florida Panhandle. Since then, Lingle Penson said Save the Closet has distributed clothing in eight different states at 62 different giveaways.
“We’re very familiar with big natural disasters and the economic storm that lasts for years following those disasters,” she said.
Thomson locals spent Wednesday morning sifting through racks and tables of pre-sorted, pre-cleaned clothing items, and Lingle Penson said the pre-Thanksgiving event marked 30,000 individuals served by the non-profit.
Clothes and a meal
Lingle Penson said that one of the reasons they chose to visit the area was because her brother, Thomson local Tracy Lingle, has been providing meals for those in need in his community since Hurricane Helene.
Lingle is the founder of another non-profit organization, My Chow Line, which aims to support U.S. Veterans through cooking.
According to Penson, her brother wanted to provide a Thanksgiving meal for his community on Wednesday, and she thought this event could be strengthened with the provision of free clothing.
Lingle was able to provide turkeys to the community across from the clothing giveaway. Both of these events were located near the train depot at 125 E. Hendricks St.
“I feel blessed to be able to participate, to be able to help and serve those in my community,” said Lingle. “We’re getting to know more people in our community now than we did before the storm. So it’s been wonderful to do that, and meeting new friends, meeting new families.”
“There are some people that don’t get a good, quality meal all the time,” he added. “So, it’s been awesome to see the reaction of the community.”
