Laconia business owner spearheading relief effort for North Carolina, Florida

LACONIA — Kyrie Hutchinson doesn’t have a magic wand to wish away the destruction Hurricane Helene brought to the Southeast last month. But she does know a lot of people, and she figured she can help provide some relief for the communities in Florida and North Carolina likely to suffer for weeks and months to come.

The storm’s death toll was reported to be 215 on Friday morning, making it already the deadliest to hit the U.S. since Katrina. That tally could continue to rise, as rescuers continue to access affected areas and many people are still considered missing. And with another storm expected to make landfall in Florida this week, it seems the damage has yet to fully unfold.

Even those who have weathered the storms will be in distress, with flood-damaged homes, washed out roads cutting off access to stores and services, and power not likely to be restored to some areas for many weeks.

Helene hit close to Hutchinson’s heart. She said Florida is her “second home,” and one of her best friends lives in North Carolina. She is active on social media, and has a large IRL network as the owner of Professional Cleaning Services, so she decided to do something besides watch news reports and Facebook reels about the damage and suffering. She is spearheading an effort to collect critical supplies and deliver them to North Carolina and Florida.

Hutchinson has been in contact with relief organizations such as the Red Cross and the United Cajun Navy, which are helping to advise her collection locally and will assist in distribution once they’re delivered.

“As much as we can do to help them, I’m going to go in with a full heart,” Hutchinson said. She said she feels compelled by the disaster to act. “That’s how I was raised. If you can help somebody, help them.”

Her form of help is to put out the call to her local network and communities, most notably the Laconia and North Conway areas, where she has a lot of clients and friends. She is asking for people to drop off supplies to Paradise Tanning, 322 S. Main St. in Laconia, or to a boarding house at 872 Hurricane Mountain Road in Bartlett. Her initial goal was to depart with those donations on Wednesday, but she is now postponing her trip until after the next storm — Hurricane Milton — has passed. The earliest she and her convoy would depart, she said, is Saturday, Oct. 12. "As soon as we feel it's safe we are leaving," she said.

If someone would like to help, but can’t get to either of those locations, she said a pick-up could be arranged by calling 603-832-6341.

The list of needed items includes cleaning supplies such as mops, trash bags, N95 masks, gloves and bleach; baby supplies such as formula, diapers, wipes and baby foods; toothpaste and toothbrushes and feminine hygiene products; clothing, especially socks and boots; pet food and cat litter; blankets, air mattresses and cots; shovels, generators, batteries, candles, flashlights and head lamps; dehumidifiers and power washers; bottled water; and gift cards to businesses such as Publix, Walmart, Target, Amazon, Lowe’s and Home Depot, Costco, Wawa, Rally and Shell. Chewable Benadryl is also needed, as the weather has also made the yellowjackets angry.

Hutchinson said it’s been encouraging to see people in both Laconia and North Conway respond to her invitations to help.

“It’s extremely heartwarming,” she said. “I’ve been working with a bunch of other local businesses which have been pretty helpful. It’s great to have such a great community that is willing to come together to let them know that they’re not alone, we’re here, we’re going to help them. We can’t make miracles happen overnight, but we can make a change.”