By BROOKLYN BROWN
One Feather Reporter
CANTON, N.C. – Jason Tremko, Army JROTC instructor at Cherokee Central Schools and owner of the Ice Cream Social, is using his food truck to provide relief efforts in Canton and Mitchell County following the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene.
Tremko is part of a larger community of food truck businesses supporting the recovery effort, “I am actually very proud of the entire food truck community. They have really stepped up since the start of the recovery. I am glad to be a small part of this recovery mission,” he said.
Tremko, his wife and two daughters, and a church team, are supplying food, toiletries, cleaning supplies, and more, as well as a sweet treat from the Ice Cream Social for a small taste of normalcy.
“I prayed about what I should do, and I made the decision to start asking for donations from the community. I received donations from several people both in the area and from people in other states as well. With the donations and money that I received, I was able to purchase hundreds of Gatorade, chips, sodas, cleaning supplies, hygiene items, and even more. We had several people give us diapers and baby food as well. We purchased dog food and much more,” Tremko said.
“The goal was to give people some joy by providing ice cream. While they may have had food, we wanted them to get something that they could not easily get at that time which was ice cream. We made them floats and cones as well as peanut butter and jelly bubble waffles.”
The Ice Cream Social has been a glimmer of joy for many during the relief drives. “When you give a child some ice cream after they have lost so much, it kind of brings them back to the reality that life will soon get back to normal for them,” he said.
“I met a woman who lost her home, and her daughter was about 7 years old. I had a shark t-shirt on, and she had a shark stuffed animal. She insisted that I take the shark animal from her because it matched my shirt. It was incredible to meet people that lost so much but they were still willing to give to others.”
Tremko listed some of the assistance needed in affected areas based on his experiences.
“I recommend providing diapers, baby formula, and groceries. Check in with hotels in the area. Ask the front desk if there are people that stay there who were impacted. I have met quite a few of these people. Most of them are running up credit cards to pay for their hotel and for food as well. Offer to pay a night or 2 for them at the hotel. Keep in mind that you can reach out to hotels that are a few hours away. You can pay over the phone. Load them up with groceries or uber eats some food in for them. Simply ask what they need. All these little things will help others right now. You can also get with a local church to find out who is sending out recovery teams.”
For Tremko and his team, just offering a bit of joy to the people most affected is a way to provide relief, “Providing joy in chaos is a very rewarding thing to do.”
