SEABOARD – Like millions of people across the United States, David Burke had a heavy heart in late September of this year after watching the news reports coming out of western North Carolina.

There, Hurricane Helene left a wide path of destruction. Lives were lost, homes and roads were either completely washed away or left in ruin, and businesses shut down.

Hundreds of miles away, Burke tossed around several ideas of what he could do to help those whose everyday lives were disrupted in the worse possible way.

“Well, I can cook,” Burke recalled thinking. “At church the Sunday after the storm, something was tugging at me. Sometimes I feel I’m not smart enough to listen, but God was speaking to me. Low and behold, the Sunday School lesson that morning was on serving others for God. I said, okay God, I hear you.”

What has transpired since that day shows what can happen when a man clings fast to his faith. Burke, an award-winning cook on the pork barbecue circuit who has experience in conducting fundraisers, called upon a few friends to share his vision to help those in need. Those “few” have blossomed into nearly 200 volunteers who have put together an event entitled Operation Thanksgiving Blessing. That effort has grown so large that it now includes not only two meals that will be served in western NC on Thursday and Saturday, but also truck loads of supplies – clothing, blankets, personal hygiene items, cleaning supplies, canned food, socks, gloves, toboggans, pillows, and paper products.

On Thursday, Burke and his small army of volunteers will serve up a traditional Thanksgiving meal at a middle school near Elk Park, a small town in Avery County not too far from Boone. He’s also prepared another meal that will be served to a group of mostly military veterans in the town of Fletcher, a Henderson County town located south of Asheville.

Armed with God’s message, Burke said he contacted a minister he knew in the Boone area as well as a fellow Northampton County native that attends Appalachian State University.

“We bounced around some ideas of where and when to serve the meal and also talked about the other needs of people up in the mountains that were severely impacted by the storm,” Burke said. “It all kind’a snowballed from that point forward.”

But what Burke didn’t expect was the outpouring of love and support from people across the region and other states as well. Donations came pouring in….turkeys from a man in Gates County as well as Butterball (140 all totaled), 70 tenderized hams donated by OSSID, a company in Rocky Mount, collards, pre-cooked and donated by Smith’s Red & White of Dortches (near Rocky Mount), and Cranberry sauce, donated by Studio Dental Laboratory in Roanoke Rapids.

Another company donated 110 pork butts that were roasted and then chopped up and seasoned to make barbecue. Chickens were donated to serve as the base ingredient for what became over 300 gallons of homemade Brunswick Stew.

Then there’s all the donations of household items, clothing, and canned goods as well as over 3,000 Bibles. The need to transport those items 300 miles to the west was filled by CRAB Trucking, Glover Construction, and Brown’s Trucking, all of Northampton County.

Burke also needed to haul his cookers and another Northampton-based company, Quality Air Makers, provided a 24 foot box truck.

“That’s the way Northampton looks after Northampton,” Burke said, flashing a big grin.

Another major hurdle was cleared when nearly 900 plastic bins – 750 from ORBIS Corporation and 140 combined from Meherrin Baptist Church and others – were donated.

“We’re packing each of them with the supplies that have been donated. Once we distribute those, the people receiving them can use the plastic bins for storage,” Burke noted.

He added that women in the local community have been baking pies and cakes for well over one month to carry out west.

“We have over 5,000 slices of cake right now, in addition to whole cakes and pies as well as brownies and cookies. Nobody is gonna leave there hungry,” Burke stressed.

“My plan on Thursday is to feed as many people that show up to eat,” he added.

Plans for the other meal on Saturday came after Burke had orchestrated the Thanksgiving Day feast.

“I got a call from a woman who had heard about what we were going to do in Elk Park,” Burke said. “She told me about what she wanted to do for the folks in Fletcher. I told her we could prepare the meal, pack it up and she could serve it.

“Then she started talking about having to rent a building to serve the food and was worried about raising the money to get the building,” Burke continued. “I told her we would cover the cost of the building. She started crying on the phone. She got me crying. We took some of the money donated to us and sent it to her to rent the building. They will serve the meal on Saturday.”

This past Sunday, Burke’s army of volunteers gathered at the Seaboard Lions Club to cook, pack containers, and load the trucks. They did take a break around 10 a.m. to participate in a worship service.

Dr. Richard Skinner delivered the message, which centered on Psalms 100, verse 2.

“The second verse really stood out to me,” Skinner shared. “It says to serve the Lord with gladness and come into his presence with singing.

“When I saw that verse pop off the page, I thought of ya’ll,” he continued. “We’ve all been through every trial that we can possibly have in our lives. We here in eastern North Carolina have been through many hurricanes over the years. But our brothers and sisters in western North Carolina are struggling; they are in despair; they may feel they have no hope. For us to go and help them is a blessing.

“What I see within this group are people serving the Lord. Just remember everything that we’re doing here today and over the past few weeks has been done to serve the Lord. And what better way to serve Him is to minister to people who are in need,” Skinner concluded.

The service also included songs of faith performed by Joel Mayle and Judy Hux.

“I know you’re not supposed to work on Sunday, but here we are,” Burke said. “Hey, it’s all God’s work. We’re doing what we’re doing in God’s name.

“God is real….people who don’t believe that are wrong. This all didn’t happen by coincidence,” Burke closed.

And it isn’t just a coincidence that God chose Burke to lead this mission of delivering hope to the people of western North Carolina.

NOTE: A crew from NBC Nightly News was on hand on Sunday at the Seaboard Lions Club, interviewing Burke and others. That story will air at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday (Nov. 27) on NBC.