West TN businesses collecting supplies for East TN fire victims

November 30, 2016

JACKSON, Tenn. — West Tennessee businesses team up to help thousands of people affected by deadly wildfires in East Tennessee.

“I mean they’ve lost everything,” Joshua Goff said, “It’s right here at the holidays.”

Goff, a mechanic at Goff Alignment, Inc. in Madison County is collecting supplies for displaced residents. “You can go to Walmart and get the little to go bottles of shampoo and soap and toothpaste and toothbrushes and deodorant,” he said.

The list of needs goes on. Goff said you can drop off donations at his office or any school in Henderson County before 5 p.m. Friday.

More than a dozen other West Tennessee businesses will also take supplies, including Ronda’s Travel Corner in Jackson. “These resorts and the restaurants and the businesses they’re just not there, so we want to help give back,” Ronda’s Travel Corner Owner Ronda Richards said.

First Tennessee Bank said it will match public donations made to the East Tennessee American Red Cross up to a total of $50,000. The bank said people can make that tax deductible donation at any of their branches across the state.

“We want to be part of the recovery effort even though we’re in this end of the state,” First Tennessee Bank Senior Vice President of Commercial Lending Rick Webb said.

Goff said he has a trailer with an 18-wheeler ready to haul supplies. “This could just as easily be you or me or your next door neighbor that just lost everything they have,” he said.

Businesses told WBBJ 7 Eyewitness news they plan to deliver supplies this weekend.

Items needed:

Toiletries

Diapers

Wipes

New towels

New wash rags

Toothbrushes

Toothpaste

Mouthwash

Deodorant

Brush and or comb