Groups and individuals sent clothing and personal items. Others sent checks. Staff members of the North Carolina Division of Travel and Tourism brought blankets and coats. They had the novel idea to also bring curtains to provide privacy and a sense of normality to people moving back into severely damaged homes. Returning the favor of Hurricane Hugo days, lodging and convention facilities in Myrtle Beach offered accommodations to fulfill any convention contracts which our local facilities might have to cancel due to hurricane damage.
Some special stories are worth relating.
After a couple of days of bureaucratic button pushing by our own Jackson Beverage Distributors, Anheuser-Busch and the Red Cross, the brewer was authorized to furnish cans of drinking water. Within four hours of obtaining permission the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Cartersville, Georgia shifted to canning water for 24 hours. Five 18 wheelers brought 256,080 cans of water to share with Kure Beach, Fort Fisher, Surf City, Topsail and Fayetteville. Upon the truck's arrival, eager Boy Scouts, college sororities and high school students helped unload the trucks. The trucks quickly left.