OUTER BANKS, N.C. (WAVY) — Businesses in the Outer Banks are stepping up to help fellow residents in need.
Barrier Island Bagels says it’s just one of many that decided to collect donations from customers to help those affected by Hurricane Dorian.
“We as a family go to Ocracoke and Hatteras a lot as an escape to get away from here. When we found out they were getting hit the hardest, our first instinct was ‘hey, what do we do to help them?'” said owner Allison Mayo.
So the business started collecting on Saturday.
Mayo says they’ve gotten so many donations, they had to turn people away to give donations to other businesses.
“Ocracoke has be inundated with relief items, which is amazing because everyone is rallying together. It’s not just us, it’s everybody,” she said.
This isn’t the first time Mayo says they’ve collected relief items. She says the business also did it for Hurricane Florence victims on the southern coast of North Carolina, where she’s originally from.
Mayo says people should start to contribute monetary donations to victims because that’s what they’ll need in the future.
Those donations can be made to the Outer Banks Community Foundation.
She’s proud of everything that has already collected because it gives her children, especially her 5-year-old son Noah, a great atmosphere to grow up in.
“I do like helping people and making people better and helping people out when they don’t have stuff,” Noah said.