Sending a truckload of help to hurricane-hit North Carolina

Robert Reed, a recruiter at U.S. Bank, helped fill an 18-wheeler with donations to help North Carolina communities hit by Hurricane Helene

Every autumn for the past several years, Robert Reed and his family have gone apple picking in the North Carolina mountains, stopping in the hamlet of Chimney Rock on the way home to enjoy lunch and check out the local shops.

In late September, less than a week after the Reed’s family trip this year, Hurricane Helene had all but wiped the riverside village off the map.

“I kept looking at the news and seeing these scenes of devastation – restaurants and shops we were just at were now completely gone, and then looking at the pictures of us there days earlier,” Reed said. “It hit home. It hurt to see that.”

Reed and his wife set to work organizing donations through their kids’ K-12 school, Lake Norman Charter in Huntersville, just north of Charlotte. Within days, they had collected enough bottled water, pet food, diapers and other supplies to fill an 18-wheeler containing more than 21,000 pounds of donations.

“The needs in those communities were so immediate, they didn’t even have drinking water,” he said. “At the school drop-off line in the morning, at Friday night football games -- everyone was eager to help out and donate whatever they could.”

Students and parents from across the school volunteered to help transfer all the donations from collection sites onto a semitrailer, which was donated by a Lake Norman alumni who then drove it to make the delivery in western North Carolina.

Next, Reed’s family helped Lake Norman School adopt a school in Asheville. Students packed some 550 donation bags for Asheville students and teachers along with handwritten notes of encouragement and support.  

Reed, his wife and another U.S. Bank colleague drove to the hurricane-hit school to deliver the donations, where they were greeted by school administrators who were brought to tears by the generosity, Reed said.

“Their students went 30 days without school and 56 days without water” other than bottled water, Reed said. “So many of their families are displaced from their homes.” 

Throughout all the donation efforts, Reed’s manager and colleagues from across the country have been encouraging him and asking how they can also help. He reached out to the leadership of his U.S. Bank human resources team for funding for the school supply bags for Asheville, and the response was a quick and unequivocal yes.

“I’ve never been prouder to be part of an organization, to be honest,” Reed said. “To have that kind of support from leadership, it really shows we are one team and that we mean it when we say we support our communities.”

U.S. Bank also activated its ATM network across the country to accept donations to fund American Red Cross disaster relief efforts, and each year the U.S. Bank Foundation contributes $150,000 to the organization’s Disaster Response Fund. To support local relief efforts in the Southeast, U.S. Bank also donated more than $80,000 in response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Reed, who lives in the Charlotte area, has worked at U.S. Bank for four years as a senior recruiter for the wealth management team. When he talks to job candidates about joining U.S. Bank, he often emphasizes that they would be part of a larger team that works together toward common goals – and this experience has only reinforced that for him.

“I tell them they will be the advisor, but we have a team working with you – your trust services and private advisors – everyone has a hand in helping reach our goal,” he said. With this experience and all of the support he received from his colleagues and leadership team, “it really speaks to how we work together.”