Waterford non-profit leads Hurricane Florence relief effort

WATERFORD, Mich. (WJBK) - Bucket by bucket, a brigade of people from all backgrounds and all parts of metro Detroit came together to help victims of Hurricane Florence.

Disaster Relief at Work, or DRAW, is a nonprofit based out of Waterford that helps victims of natural disasters across the country. They are currently loading up a semi with cleaning supplies to be taken to the victims in the Carolinas. A second truck will also be going on Friday. More than 100 volunteers from FCA and other local organizations volunteered their time Monday to load up buckets of supplies and get them into the semi.  

Greg Martin, who is leading the effort to give them relief, returned from the area ravaged by the storm and says the effects are still being felt.

"The storm was big and everyone was anticipating it, and when it showed up, it slowed way down to a crawl and just dumped water. So even though the storm got demoted from Category 2 to Category 1 to tropical storm to tropical depression, the rain just kept coming and that area couldn't take it anymore," he said.

For others like Donna Whyte, it's personal. Her family is stuck in the Carolinas.

"My niece's husband is a firefighter so it was mandatory that he stayed, so she stayed with the kids. But yesterday the tornados came in and massive flooding," she said.

Pistons players Reggie Bullock and Ish Smith came by to show their support -- they have family there too.

If you would like to help with the second shipment going out Friday, go to drawbuckets.org