Cooperative Extension Service agents in eastern North Carolina have made an “urgent request” for a truckload of 200 square bales of hay by Monday.

The bales must be hand-loaded to get them to flooded areas, “so we are asking for square bales at this time,” according to Darrell Blackwelder, an agent with the Extension Service in Rowan.

Rowan farmers can deliver any variety of hay, such as fescue, orchard grass or alfalfa, by 8 a.m. Saturday, when it will be loaded on trucks.

To anticipate how many trucks are needed, the Extension Service asks anyone planning to donate hay to call the agency at 633-0571 in advance.

More thank-yous

Glenn Adams, a cattle farmer who lives outside Tarboro, said he is grateful that Rowan farmers, especially Wayne Eller, responded to the need early.

Adams said Eller is donating 150 round bales, which is the equivalent to 3,000 square bales, that will help 16 to 20 farmers.

“This flood has put me out of the hog business for good,” Adams said by cell phone Tuesday morning. Eller “has probably made the most generous donation that will be made. The trouble it takes to make hay, not many people are willing to give it away. The hay he has sent us really has touched us. It’s keeping us in the cattle business. May God bless him.”

Animals still in need

Sweet Meadow Cafe, on East Innes Street in Salisbury, looked like Christmas this morning as volunteers prepared to take two truckloads of animal supplies to the flood-stricken area in eastern North Carolina.

D.J. Snyder of Salisbury, a former city police officer, drove one of the trucks and plans to remain as a volunteer until Monday.

Her truck and another driven by Ben Thayer of Sweet Meadow were loaded with pet supplies of all kinds which will be delivered to the School of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University, where a distribution center has been set up. It will then go on to the Wilson area, where information indicates small communities are still without help of any sort.

Sweet Meadow collected supplies on behalf of the Humane Society of Rowan County, which has received word that the centers in Greenville and Pitt County now have more supplies than they can house, according to Jane Hartness, president.

Wednesday, she talked to the president of the Emergency Animal Rescue Society, who appeared on 20-20 Wednesday night, and she confirmed that officials are having problems storing supplies in the Greenville area, which is why they’re now headed to Raleigh.

“We sent a U-Haul full of supplies there Saturday,” she said, donated by individuals and Cansorb Industries on Highway 70.

Thayer said cat and dog food is not needed right now, but other supplies are, including disposable gloves, water, garbage bags, leads, litter, veterinary medicine and shampoos.

People who want to donate may still leave supplies at Sweet Meadow on West Innes Street and they will be delivered next week.

Bucket brigade

Seven long-term care providers and retirement communities in Salisbury and two in other communities are joining hands to create a bucket brigade of cleaning supplies for flood-stricken eastern North Carolina.

Taking part are Lutheran Services for the Aging, the Laurels, Autumn Care, Genesis Elder Care, Abundant Living Day Care, the Lutheran Home at Trinity Oaks, Trinity Oaks Retirement Community, all of Salisbury, and the Lutheran homes of Hickory and Albemarle.

Residents will fill five-gallon painters’ buckets, which have been donated by Dairy Queen and bucket distributor Lancaster-Scheurmann of South Carolina, and brought to Salisbury by Rowan Decorating. The buckets themselves can then be used, unlike boxes, which have to be thrown away, says Brenda Zimmerman, activity and volunteer director for the Trinity Oaks Campus.

Each bucket will contain a gallon of bleach, a pair of rubber gloves, plastic trash bags, a powdered cleanser and a liquid disinfectant. They will be packed with clean used terry towels — and will be paired with mops, brooms and dustpans.

The areas hit by the floods will need cleaning supplies for months and months, Zimmerman says, so the collection will continue through Oct. 31.

Items may be taken to the main building at Trinity Oaks or to any of the participating facilities.

“We’re trying to make a connection with another group similar to our population,” to receive the supplies, Zimmerman said.

The collection will give residents an opportunity to help pack buckets and keep track of what comes in.

More help needed

Two weeks after Hurricane Floyd hit the coast of North Carolina and flooded a large portion of the state, volunteers are still desperately needed to help victims meet basic needs and begin the long road to recovery.

A large number of people have already been, says Paul Wilson, volunteer coordinator for Region 5 of the North Carolina Baptist Men, which runs from Salisbury to Greensboro, and about 35 more left early Wednesday morning for Rocky Mount to keep a major feeding station in operation.

“We have feeding teams and construction teams working all over eastern North Carolina,” he says. “We’re still in the emergency stage, but we’re starting to look at mud-out rebuilding operations. Those crews go in and help people strip the houses of Sheet Rock and then help put back Sheet Rock, wiring, flooring, all those things.”

The damage is so widespread, he says, that “it’s going to take a while to figure out how we’re going to deal with it. We think we’re going to be feeding for a couple of weeks still, maybe more, in Rocky Mount and Wilmington. And volunteers are going on their own to other places.”

When he was there last week doing assessments of the need in Wilmington, Burgaw and Wallace, Pender County ordered more than 500 mobile homes and 700 mobile homes were under water in a 20-mile stretch out from Wallace. Wilmington had 1,100 homes damaged.

“My concern now is that we’ve got a long time to go. It’s going to be greater than Hurricane Fran, a whole lot greater, and we helped 2,000 families then.”

But volunteers and financial contributors make it happen, he adds. They’ll be recruiting volunteers — from all denominations — for the recovery process in about two weeks.

People interested in updates on what’s happening and what’s needed on the volunteer front may call 1-800-637-6735.

“We’re going to need in the millions of dollars,” he says, “and I hope people respond to it. We hope we can get them in shape in a year from now, two years, whatever it’s going to be. I think you’re going to see a couple of years of work there.”

Contributions may be mailed to Trading Ford Baptist Church, 3600 Long Ferry Road, Salisbury, N.C. 28416, or to the N.C. Baptist State Convention, P.O. Box 1107, Cary, N.C.

Already making a difference

Contributions from Rowan County already are making a difference. For example, North Rowan and Bostian elementary schools have adopted Grifton Elementary in Pitt County and are gathering school supplies as well as other non-perishable goods for the students and staff of the flood-damaged school.

In an e-mail Tuesday, Jackie Adams, Gifton’s principal, wrote: “Grifton School and Pitt County schools appreciate the outpouring of help and prayers. We are overwhelmed by the magnitude of people who have called with concern for our students, staff and families. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Other groups jumping in

Other groups continue to organize supply drives for flood victims.

United Parcel Service, at 1301 Old Concord Road in Salisbury, is accepting non-perishable items between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. beginning Wednesday and continuing on weekdays through Oct. 8.

UPS will see that the supplies get to “our neighbors in the eastern part of the state.” The company is taking baby items (bottles, diapers, wipes, food and formula), paper products (towels, toilet paper, plates, cups, tissues, and women’s products), toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, deodorant, shampoo and miscellaneous items (plastic forks, spoons and knives, trash bags, cleaning supplies and bottled water).

For information, call Jeff Burris at 639-0810.

The Moose Family Center No. 2019 in Spencer is sponsoring the same sort of supply collection.