The Pigeon Center responds to community’s disaster needs: Support needed to make up fundraising shortfall
While in town for the 112th Annual Cherokee Fair, stickball team Wudeligv (woo day lee guh), came to volunteer at The Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center after Hurricane Helene. Donated photo
The Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center quickly became a storm recovery hub in Waynesville just days after Hurricane Helene devastated areas of Haywood County.
On Saturday, Sept. 28, Program Director Tausha Forney made her way from her home in Canton to the Pigeon Center in Waynesville to check for storm damage. Most of the region was still without power and cell service when Pigeon Center staff and volunteers organized quickly to meet the basic needs of impacted residents.
Trucks began rolling in with supplies on Oct. 1 from all over the Southeast. On Oct. 2, the center was open to distribute food and emergency supplies as well as serving hot meals. As the donations continued to pour in from other areas, volunteers worked at the center daily to organize and stock the items people needed most, including water, baby food and formula, cleaning supplies and toiletries.
More than 2,000 people have been helped in some capacity at Pigeon Center since the storm.
Nearly two months after the disaster that left hundreds of families without homes or essential utilities, the Pigeon Center is one of the few relief centers still open in the county, and it will continue to provide community assistance long after the Red Cross and FEMA have left the area.
The Pigeon Center staff and volunteers have also delivered supplies to other parts of the region as needed or when the center was at capacity for donations. When students returned to school a couple of weeks after the disaster, the Pigeon Center continued its after school program for local children to take some of the burden off of parents struggling to return to some sense of normalcy and work. Francis Cove United Methodist Church just down the street from the center opened its doors to the after-school program since all the Pigeon Center classrooms were being used to store donations.
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While the Pigeon Center staff and volunteers are proud of their recovery efforts, it also means the nonprofit organization has had to cancel several of its normal fundraising events that are crucial to keeping the center operating in the black. Plans for a new Day of the Dead fundraiser event, the annual fish fry and the Seasons of Light holiday event had to be canceled, leaving the Pigeon Center board of directors with an estimated $6,500 budget shortfall.
Giving Tuesday, Dec. 3, is just around the corner, and the Pigeon Center Board Co-chair Gregory Wheeler hopes the community will find a way to give back financially to the center on Dec. 3 and the rest of the holiday season.
“PCMDC is proud to provide support and resources to our community. It is our mission to be of service. While donations have come in to help those who have been impacted by Hurricane Helene, our current need is to raise funds for our operating expenses, such as lights, heat, and salaries to make up for lost revenue due to not being able to use our building and resources to fundraise,” Wheeler said.
Today, the Pigeon Center has a significant focus on educational programming like after school tutoring and summer enrichment programs for local students and support for our seniors and the underserved. The nonprofit’s mission is to strengthen harmony among the residents of the county and its communities. To achieve this, PCMDC helps re-establish the long-standing tradition of the community as a family and fosters intentional inclusiveness to create a holistic quality of life.
To support Pigeon Center’s programs and mission, visit pcmdc.org and click on the donate button. Donors have the option of a one-time donation or a recurring monthly donation. Checks can be mailed to PCMDC, P.O. BOX 1494, Waynesville, NC, 28786.
