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You don’t need to be searching for signs of togetherness and community around here this week. It’s clear that the Outer Banks is tightly knit and neighbors are often more like family than anything else. For starters, I’ve seen amazing folks in Hatteras pitching in on relief efforts, running themselves ragged just to help a friend. I’ve witnessed dozens of folks helping one another with meal prep, pre-Hurricane shopping and even rides out of town. In Kitty Hawk, neighbors were trimming trees and taking in outdoor furniture with the help of family and cars are being temporarily parked on dry land owned by out of town-ers. The SPCA is empty and all of those sweet animals have cozy foster homes, at least through the storms. It’s been a beautiful thing to witness. But, we’re not the only ones who are witnessing this village mentality. Our kids are watching too and I loved watching the smallest of the Outer Bankers share in the work before the storm because of the amazing examples that they have. It’s just about enough to make my heart burst and I’m so proud to raise our children here.
Last year, after Hurricane Florence, we witnessed how our own kids began pitching in on cleanup efforts without being told to help. Our 6 year old daughter banded together with some of her friends and hosted a lemonade stand to raise money for the folks south of us who had experienced so much flooding. Those tiny kids raised over $250 in a very short period of time. Remember these cuties?
So this year, ahead of storm cleanup, we’re asking you to nominate the local kids who you see pitching in and joining in the relief efforts. While we hope our storm damage is minimal, we know that this community will help raise money or supplies for any of the hard hit storm areas. We want to encourage these awesome local kids to keep up the good work! If you see a child pitching in to give back or your own child jumps to help out, nominate them in our Facebook comments below this post or on the Outer Banks Voice facebook page in the comments by telling us their name, age and sharing a snapshot of how they’re helping. They can be walking a foster dog from the SPCA or helping with clean-up or sharing a meal with someone in need. Any act, large or small earns them a nomination! We will randomly select one helpful kid on Thursday, September 12th as our Local Kid-Citizen of Hurricane Dorian! Our winner will receive $100 in local restaurant gift cards and a $25 Walmart gift card provided by the Outer Banks Voice and Outer Banks Mom!