Helping with Hay: Salisbury man’s mission to help farmers in North Carolina

SALISBURY, Md. – A Salisbury man is on a mission to help North Carolina farmers who are still suffering from the impacts of Hurricane Helene.

“The need is going to continue to stay there, or these people will still lose their animals, the only thing they got left,” explained Stevie Stevenson, a retired truck driver and farmer who’s determined to make a difference, one hay barrel at a time.

For months, Stevie has taken countless trips from Salisbury all the way to North Carolina to deliver enormous amounts of hay to help area farmers and agricultural producers who were devastated by impact of the hurricane.

“They were almost pulling the bales off my truck the first time and putting them right in pick-ups and rushing home with them,” Stevie said. “People had animals, for days, that hadn’t had anything to eat.”

And that’s if the animals survived. Stevie tells us about one woman he helped who had her entire home washed away, right off the foundation, and with it – most of her livestock. Those that were left, were starving.

“She said ‘can you imagine what that sounds like?’ I said, ‘no ma’am I can’t.’ I said ‘that’s got to be horrible’ and she said ‘I laid there and cried my pillow wet last night listening to them poor animals starving to death, and I said ‘my good Lord have mercy,'” Stevie said. “It makes me wanna go again just as soon as I get back home.”

Stevie’s made a total of 16 trips since the storm tore through parts of the Tar Heel State. His wife, Sherry Stevenson, says it means a lot to her to see her husband helping so many people.

“It has brought out the best in him as far as I’m concerned,” Sherry said. “He loves it, he loves driving for one, but just to know that he’s helping, and helping these animals has been really rewarding to both of us.”

While Stevie and Sherry have spent thousands out of their own pockets to help, they have also received several donations to aide in their mission to make a difference.

“I keep telling everybody that makes a donation, thank you for helping me help these people,” Stevie said. “It’s not me and what I’m doing by myself because there’s a lot of other people that have carried hay and supplies.”

A normal load of hay is somewhere around $2,000. With the need still so great, Stevie said he has no plans to stop anytime soon. He’s accepting donations of hay ahead of his next trip.

To find out how you can help support Stevie’s mission, give him a call at 443-614-2670.