The Southern Heritage Air Foundation (SHAF), based at the Vicksburg-Tallulah Regional Airport, is doing its part to help with hurricane relief across the east coast. SHAF has collected donated hurricane relief supplies and is flying the items to North Carolina and Florida.

SHAF collected items from multiple locations across Vicksburg before volunteers packed and loaded them onto planes.

One plane flew to Asheville, N.C. Wednesday morning to provide relief from Hurricane Helene. Thursday, SHAF founder Dan Fordice and his copilot Paul Banchetti made the same journey.

“We all ought to be helping each other,” Fordice said. “And when we get into a problem, those of us that are sitting out here looking at the beautiful sunshine every day need to go out and help those that are not so fortunate right now.”

Fordice and Banchetti will pilot a King Air, a twin-engine aircraft that allows 1,200 pounds of supplies to be hauled on each trip.

When the foundation put out the call for donations, the community delivered.

Donated items include cleaning supplies, diapers, toiletries, sweaters, blankets, and more. Some chipped in for fuel costs.

“I just want to thank everybody for their generosity,” Fordice said. “This has been a huge outpouring.”

People were so generous, in fact, that the foundation had to find volunteers and ground vehicles to carry the many supplies that would not fit into the aircraft.

Fordice said that when they get back from Asheville, the duo will get ready for their next trip on Monday: a flight hauling more supplies to Florida to provide relief for Hurricane Milton.