{"id":3418,"date":"2024-10-10T16:43:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T16:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/100.28.115.227\/?p=3418"},"modified":"2025-01-30T17:56:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T17:56:57","slug":"the-candy-ladys-sweet-mission-to-spread-love-and-hope-after-helene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/2024\/10\/10\/the-candy-ladys-sweet-mission-to-spread-love-and-hope-after-helene\/","title":{"rendered":"The Candy Lady\u2019s Sweet Mission to Spread Love and Hope After Helene"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Asheville, NC  (October 10, 2024)<\/strong>–She\u2019s known as the Candy Lady, but her name is Dee. Beyond her sweet title, Dee wears many hats: she\u2019s a business owner, a member of the Advisory Board for The Salvation Army, and a dedicated disaster relief volunteer assisting in Western North Carolina after Helene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every evening after dinner, Dee and other dedicated disaster workers fill plastic grocery bags with candy, ensuring that each mobile feeding unit can share a sweet treat as a simple expression of love for the people they serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA piece of candy can bring so much joy to people\u2014from children to big, burly men!\u201d Dee said with a smile. \u201cI\u2019ve watched the most stoic mothers and the toughest men crumble over a piece of chocolate. In those moments, I hug them and provide the love they need as they face the challenges of disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Dee, serving after a disaster is deeply personal. Seven months after moving to the beautiful beach town of Morehead City, North Carolina, Hurricane Florence destroyed her home. A local church stepped in to help Dee and her husband navigate after the storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople from One Harbor Church came and supported us,\u201d Dee recalled. \u201cThe love, joy, and compassion they showed made all the difference. I have never experienced such compassion. I wanted to join in and share the love!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, Dee and her husband began attending One Harbor Church, and she started participating in local disaster relief efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love disaster work! This is the first really big disaster I\u2019ve served in, and it\u2019s incredibly fulfilling to share hope and a meal to people,\u201d she said, her passion shining through. \u201cI want to take every disaster training course I can. I want to be able to help in every way I am needed!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Dee rides past people on the street in The Salvation Army mobile feeding unit, she forms her hands into a heart shape, sharing a piece of her giant heart with everyone she encounters. \u201cI used to think my friends were so silly when they made that sign!\u201d Dee laughed. \u201cNow, I do it all the time for everyone we pass on the street. I see so much value in that symbol of love!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love can be expressed in the simplest ways: a piece of candy, hands forming a heart shape, a hot meal and a cold drink, or a listening ear during the toughest times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Salvation Army is on the ground throughout Western NC, sharing expressions of love and hope with those whose lives have been upended. Our mission is to meet physical needs and soothe hearts with the promise of God\u2019s love, and we will continue this work until we are no longer needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Taste and see that the Lord is good;  blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” Psalm 34:8<\/p>\n

Shelley Henderson<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Asheville, NC  (October 10, 2024)–She\u2019s known as the Candy Lady, but her name is Dee. Beyond her sweet title, Dee wears many hats: she\u2019s a business owner, a member of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3419,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,33],"tags":[110,94,32,129],"class_list":["post-3418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-response","category-volunteers","tag-helene","tag-hurricane","tag-north-carolina","tag-spotlight"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/7711045d4a054f3859537c963df7d501.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3418"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3418"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3420,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3418\/revisions\/3420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}