Illinois Woman Spreads Holiday Cheer with Gifts to Hurricane-Hit North Carolina Church. Similar to Chicago, areas of the Carolinas are seeing temperatures that are 15 degrees below average.
For many who are still displaced by Hurricane Helene, which destroyed sections of the Southeast more than two months ago, it is making matters worse down there.
However, in the suburbs of Chicago, a woman named Terri Horwath has made it her goal to make the Christmas more cheerful for the hurricane victims. She is doing the majority of the work, and she pitched the idea to a church hundreds of miles away.
During the holiday season, Horwath hopes that this narrative may inspire others to consider individuals who are not in the best of circumstances.
Hurricane Helene devastated the area around Asheville, North Carolina, on September 28.
The chairman of the Deacon Board at Enon Baptist Church in Marshall, North Carolina, Mike Freeman, said, “They were hit extremely hard, and our church became a distribution center for food, water, and any other aid we could give at that time.”
For months, Enon Baptist Church has been providing aid to disaster victims. Additional assistance arrived in the form of enough wrapped presents to fill a church classroom in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
Horwath, located in Plainfield, Illinois, more than 600 miles distant, provided the gifts.
“They will still not be in residences. They might not be employed. They will still be so overwhelmed by their daily tasks that they will require assistance with Christmas presents,” Horwath stated.
Horwath so worked with the pastor of the church in North Carolina, who provided her with wish lists from needy families.
“I then forwarded those wish lists to individuals they purchased items, and they directly sent them down to the church,” explained Horwath.
Although 60 households were supposed to get gifts, the demand has increased. And Horwath is solely responsible for the gifts reaching the church.
“I hope God blesses her, and I appreciate her,” Freeman added. “I know He is going to bless her immensely for what she has stepped up to do.”
Horwath wishes for others to emulate her.
“So if you could help the kids to have a smile on Christmas morning, that’s what this is all about,” she continued.
Walmart is used to build up Horwath’s register for gifts to be sent to North Carolina.
