Eli Drinkwitz shares heartfelt message to Boone, western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene
Prior to his stint as Missouri‘s head coach, Eli Drinkwitz spent one year as the head coach at Appalachian State, where he went 12-1 and full ingratiated himself in the community.
Now that same community is reeling from the impacts of Hurricane Helene, which caused widespread flooding and damage in the Boone, N.C., area.
“Yeah I just want to start by saying my heart and my thoughts and prayers are with the people of western North Carolina,” Drinkwitz said in the opening statement of a press conference on Monday. “Obviously my wife and I and family spent some time there in Boone, North Carolina, and to see the devastation caused by the hurricane has been very difficult.”
The death toll from Hurricane Helene has already topped 130 people, with many in western North Carolina still cut off. Power and cell service are down in some spots, leaving many in desperate condition.
“I know those people are very resilient, but they could definitely use our help,” Eli Drinkwitz said. “I know I retweeted a tweet by Shawn Clark today that has a link for donations for the people of Boone, specifically the student-athletes and the faculty at App State University. But there’s all kinds of people in western North Carolina, in eastern Tennessee that could use our help. So definitely want to bring awareness to them and let them know that they’re not forgotten and that our prayers are with them.”
The Missouri football team was on a bye week this week, looking to improve after being pushed to the wire by Vanderbilt in an overtime contest.
But Eli Drinkwitz’ mind has been in the Carolinas, where those brief but strong relationships he built with the people of Boone linger.
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“Well honestly I checked in with several of them, tried to check in with several people over the course of Saturday and Sunday,” he said .”But limited cell service, didn’t get responses. Have gotten a couple of responses today. People in our old neighborhood, friends in our old neighborhood who have suffered flooding and then obviously the pictures of downtown Boone were mind-numbing to me.
The picture of the Walmart flooded, there’s a picture of the Boone golf course that’s eight feet of water on it. And just knowing the communities there and where people were living, just knowing that houses are destroyed. I think that’s probably a really hard thing, because — I don’t think, I know it — a hurricane’s coming in from the Gulf and you’ve kind of prepared for it, but to be in the mountains of western North Carolina and wake up one day and everything you have is floating down the flooding area is unimaginable.”
Eli Drinkwitz pointed out some of the heroic relief efforts already in place to help the people of Boone. Still, more help is needed.
To that end, people can donate to the App State disaster relief fund via the link above.
“And I know they’re in desperate need of supplies,” Eli Drinkwitz said. “You’ve seen good Samaritans. I saw yesterday where Joe Gibbs Racing had donated his helicopter and was flying in supplies. And several people were donating helicopter services. I saw where the NC State player and his mom were sending up U-Haul trucks and trailers. But the people of western North Carolina are resilient and tough, but they need our help now more than ever.”