3 days Ago
Editor's note: The Aiken Standard is honoring people who responded to the challenge of dealing with Tropical Storm Helene. These individuals are the Aiken Standard's Persons of the Year for 2024. When Tropical Storm Helene hit, Nancy Payne was already dealing with a lot.
Even though Payne didn’t have damage to her property, she was more concerned about her mom, who had fallen, and the aftermath of the storm, so instead of worrying about the negative she did what she knew best. Cooking. “I just keep thinking, I am going to focus on something positive,” she said.
Payne was one of many unsung heroes who went above and beyond during Helene. While most people were spending time picking up storm debris, she made sure many people in the community were fed by providing meals to those in need over a 10-day period. 'We really were a lifeline for many of our neighbors': Area nonprofits came to rescue during Helene Over the course of 10 days, 1,823 meals were prepared out of First Baptist North Augusta .
It wasn’t an additional cost for the church. Payne and other volunteers were able to prepare meatloaf, spaghetti, taco bake, chicken, ham and mac and cheese. “It’s remarkable and amazing that the citizens came together and took care of one another,” she said.
Payne and other volunteers spent those days making, boxing and delivering food for people in the community. The food was mostly prepared out of First Baptist Church, and they would start boxing meals at 3 p.m.
"It wasn’t just me, it was multiple gracious loving people who wanted to do something for somebody else," she said. Salvation Army provides food, shelter for those in need Payne, who is now retired, spent 29 years working as a caterer for the city of North Augusta. Payne retired from that role about three years ago and her job after retirement was be to find a little church in which she would be able to cook Wednesday night supper.
She started cooking the weekly supper at First Baptist Church North Augusta, but since the church doesn’t have Wednesday night dinner anymore, she came over to Grace United Methodist Church to prepare meals about twice a month for their senior group. She has been cooking meals at various churches since then. Payne said she had a lot on her plate during Helene, and she had to do something to get her mind off the bad.
“I was trying to focus on something positive instead of all the negative and the ugliness that was surrounding us,” she said. Love and food Payne said the idea to provide meals during Helene was from herself and a friend, Cindy, who also helps in the kitchen. She called to check in on her and began to talk about how things were going bad in the refrigerator and wanted to find a way they could use all the food that was in it.
“Cindy and I put our shoes on, and we went to the church," she said. “We started clearing out the freezers, putting stuff up and cooking." Since the kitchen at First Baptist had gas, Payne and other volunteers could cook meals.
Everyone is welcomed at 'Come to the Table,' the Salvation Army's Thanksgiving meal “Since everyone is out of power and we can cook with gas then we could cook whatever is in the freezer and hand it out to church members,” she said. Once the food was cooked, they let the community know about it through social media and people started to show up to help and to get food. People would ask her to see what she needed.
“That whole week it was either people bringing us food, monetary donations, which I took every dime of the monetary donations and spent on food,” she said. “People were so generous and so kind; they were thoughtful and loving towards their neighbors.” Payne said many people also came to also volunteer with the cooking and packing up boxes.
Payne said she and others took it a little further by standing on the corners of downtown streets to hand out meals to people. “It wasn’t just me, there were so many who gave their time, energy and resources to help,” she said. “The comradery we just felt in the kitchen was fabulous.
" Payne said a few days during the week when there wasn’t a lot of activity taking place at the church, they delivered food to workers and people in apartment complexes. “It’s just the joy to put a smile on somebody’s face and it means a lot,” Payne said. She said many people told her they were grateful for her efforts.
She said one woman stopped by after her parents told her what the church was doing. “We all stood in a circle and she prayed for us and thanked us for blessing her and her family,” she said. She said one woman donated birthday money from a spa day, so the money could be used to buy ingredients for a meal.
“It was just that feeling of helping somebody,” she said. Payne said cooking meals, especially during the storm, is one way she has found purpose in her life. “I like having a purpose and he has really given me a purpose,” she said.
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