Relief & Recovery for Bertie County After Hurricane Isais

“My wife is a retired schoolteacher with a passion for reaching out and helping people, and I get to go along with her,” said Doug Davis, an Outside Sales Rep at City Electric Supply Morehead City. Where did Sandra take him this time? Swansboro, North Carolina, to deliver supplies to Swansboro Town Hall, where groups had already started collecting provisions for people in Bertie County who were devastated by tornadoes from Hurricane Isais.

Behind Every Successful Man…

All credit for the trip Doug made, as he would be quick to assure you, must go to his wife.

“She found out about the need in Bertie County on the news, and she found out that Swansboro Town Hall was the collection point on Facebook,” explained Doug. “She mentioned it, and I said we’d be able to pick up supplies and get them to Swansboro.”

True to his word, on Thursday, August 13, Doug headed for Swansboro with a CES trailer full of supplies he’d received from Crossing All Borders Ministry — a faith-based organization run by Joeth Strickland with a mission of crossing geographical, ethnic, economic, educational, and denominational borders to bring people together and help those in need.

Supplies for Bertie

Filling up a trailer full of supplies might seem like a pretty big ask, but not if you understand Joeth’s mission or her relationship with the Davis family.

“We’re sort of a conduit for Crossing All Borders Ministry,” explained Doug. “Joeth has a warehouse in Inger, North Carolina, where she gathers supplies for people in need. She couldn’t give it all away on her own; she needed an outlet. So, if we ever need supplies, Joeth loads us up. We’ve worked with Crossing All Borders Ministry for close to about five years now, and we’ve delivered her supplies everywhere.”

So, this wasn’t Doug’s first delivery of bleach, cleaning supplies, hand soap, tarps, socks, and “anything you can think of” (to quote Doug), but it was the trip that earned him his biggest reaction.

Shock at Swansboro

“When I told the person working at Swansboro Town Hall that I was there with a trailer of supplies, she told me to bring it in. I thought to myself, ‘She has no idea what I brought,’” laughed Doug. “We’ve carried a lot of supplies to people before, but we got to Swansboro right at the beginning when they really needed stuff, and we exceeded their expectations. They were flabbergasted.”

While the reaction was memorable, Doug didn’t reach out to Bertie County for praise. For him, it was just about helping people in need.

“Helping people who need help? Just real people helping real people? It’s a good feeling offering something without charging anything,” reflected Doug. “Tornadoes just tear everything to pieces. When people step in to help, it changes everything. You need bleach to disinfect? Here’s bleach at no cost. You have nothing, then all of a sudden, you have what you need.”

Together, Doug and Sandra want to make that difference.

“I turn 63 next month,” said Doug. “When you get older and your children are gone and good with their own lives, you have more time to do stuff.”

And if you have time to do stuff, too, Doug urges you to search for people around you that could benefit from your help.

“Go ahead and reach out,” said Doug. “Crossing All Borders Ministry is just one of the many, many ways to help. There are always things to do.”

CES employees interested in finding some of those things to do can visit CESCares.Benevity.org to get started.