Nursing Student Responded Within Days After Helene to Fly Needed Supplies to Western North Carolina

Velvet Sims Joined Group of Pilots Airlifting Supplies and Help to People Trapped in Mountains 

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.—Just hours after Hurricane Helene cut a path of destruction through western North Carolina, several volunteers began rushing to aid the people trapped there. Velvet Sims, a student in the Associate of Science in Nursing program at Gardner-Webb University, joined immediately.

Sims has two areas of expertise: she is a pilot and has worked in Emergency Services. She and a group of pilots mobilized support, meeting at the Lincoln County Airport to collect and fly supplies to their neighbors in the mountains. She wrote about her experience in an email to her nursing instructor, Nicole Beaver, and gave permission to share the firsthand account with others.   

Sims began: “The past five days have been humbling. We are doing all we can from the air and ground. Tuesday, Oct. 1, we took 160,000 pounds of supplies just from the Lincolnton airport, which is where I am flying from. I don’t think truly anyone can imagine the scale of this operation. We have planes in the air with supplies, and ground support at Lincolnton, Statesville, and Hickory airports that includes physicians and nurses. Once we land, we relay information back to our base airports if medical supplies like insulin are needed or if people need medical assistance. The medical staff is then loaded on one of our helicopters and taken into these remote areas.”

She described the emotional and stressful work of search and rescue operations. Then, she told how mothers from Lincolnton and other areas were donating frozen breast milk to infants and moms in western North Carolina. She reflected on how ironic it was that she was the one to fly the coolers of milk when she is doing her clinicals in obstetrics this semester. When one of the rescue planes crashed in Hickory, Sims was distraught by the news. She asked for prayer for the pilots, and the people affected by the hurricane. Seeing her distress, one of the coordinators at the airport handed her a plastic bag and a wooden cross that came from Bethlehem. Inside the plastic bag was a bookmark printed with Psalm 56:3: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” She vowed that the cross would be with her on every flight.

About two weeks later, Sims wrote another email to Director of the Hunt School of Nursing Anna Hamrick. Contemplating on what she had learned from the experience, the nursing student asserted, “I have been a tiny part of an enormous effort to save lives.”

She found herself in the midst of absolute devastation and wished to unsee all the tragedy and loss. However, in her own feelings of despair, Sims found hope. “I witnessed what should always happen: Neighbors helping neighbors!” Sims declared. “We live in a divided world. Seeing what is happening across WNC was a blessing. It reminded me that humanity is still within us.”

To our readers: The Lincoln County Airport Disaster Relief is no longer taking donations. Some members of the group continue to post updates to the Facebook page, here.

Gardner-Webb University is North Carolina’s recognized leader in private, Christian higher education. A Carnegie-Classified Doctoral/Professional University, GWU is home to nine colleges and schools, more than 80 undergraduate and graduate majors, and a world-class faculty. Located on a beautiful 225-acre campus in Boiling Springs, N.C., Gardner-Webb prepares graduates to impact their chosen professions, equips them with the skills to advance the frontiers of knowledge, and inspires them to make a positive and lasting difference in the lives of others. Ignite your future at Gardner-Webb.edu.