“Everything just came together,”
Four simple words by Thomas Davis Tuesday morning resulted in Carter County coming together to help members of each of the county’s fire departments currently on scene battling flames in Gatlinburg.
The Carter County Community Advisory Board (CAB) is hosting a special donation drive for local firefighters until Friday, Dec. 2 at noon at the Elizabethton/Carter County Public Library.
CAB will be accepting donations of water, prepackaged snacks (granola and energy bars), energy drinks, work socks, underwear and undershirts, baby wipes and toiletries at the library, which will then be delivered to Sevier County for the local personnel on scene.
Davis, who serves as the vice chair for CAB, said the plans for the drive were able to fall into place.
“Actually, it was one of those ‘great minds think alike’ moments,” he said. “We heard from some of the guys at the scene that they needed a few things and we set about trying to get them to them. At the exact same time, other members of the board were independently talking with the fire department and contacts from other services to do the same thing. So, we all reached out to each other for help, realized we were working on the same thing and got everyone working on one organized effort.”
The CAB has been on the forefront of finding ideas to assist the community and having this opportunity makes the organization worthwhile, Davis added.
“That is what the Carter County Community Advisory Board does,” he said. “And this is a great example.”
Donations will be accepted at the library during the facility’s regular operating hours. For more information, contact Davis’ office at (423) 543-2018, the library at (423) 547-6560, or visit the Carter County Community Advisory Board Facebook page online.