Local businesses donated and delivered supplies to Tennessee in October.
Hatfield officials closed out 2024 by recognizing a handful of heroes who made a big difference for those in need.
In their final meeting of the year, the township commissioners thanked several local businesses and volunteers for delivering supplies to those hit hard by hurricanes in North Carolina this fall.
“It seemed like the world was coming apart at the seams, and this sense of helplessness, of how do you do something for these folks? How can we in Hatfield, in our area, turn that into something for them?” said commissioners President Tom Zipfel.
“We reached out to our Hatfield residents, and we said ‘We’re going to start a donation (drive), right here in our foyer, and let’s see what we can get, and let’s see how we can bring it down, to the people who need it the most’.”
Hatfield Township commissioners president Tom Zipfel, center, poses with a group of University of Tennessee students who helped unload a van full of supplies donated for hurricane and flooding victims at a warehouse in Tennessee on Oct. 25, 2024. (Credit: Hatfield Township)
Hatfield Township officials and police help move and load a pile of paper supplies donated for hurricane and flooding victims in North Carolina on Oct. 25, 2024. (Credit: Hatfield Township)Shop Rite does it right
Those calls for donations to help victims of Hurricane Helene yielded a trickle of donations at first, Zipfel recalled during the Dec. 18 township commissioners meeting, before several local businesses started to step up. A few strategic phone calls helped too, including to Jim and Kathi Madanci, owners of the Hatfield Shop Rite, whom Zipfel recalled asking for help.
“I said ‘Jim, this is what we’re doing, can you help out?’ I’m trying to explain to him that we have this big van, and we want to fill it up, and he’s trying to tell me, you don’t have enough room in that van for how much I’m going to donate,” Zipfel said.
“It turned out to be over two tons of food and water, seven or eight thousand cans, a couple of skids of water we brought down, and we were unprepared to do that. We were going to go save the world in one van. Little did we realize that we were going to have such an overwhelming contribution from our residents,” he said.
That van, donated by Bergey’s auto dealership, and a full trailer truck donated by Shop Rite, were loaded up on October 25 by staff, commissioners, township police officers, and volunteers including a crew from North Wales-based Penn Pro Roofing, with the goal of taking it roughly 1,000 miles south to Asheville, North Carolina, one of the towns hardest hit by hurricanes and flooding.
“These conversations are minutes long. It’s not hours, it was, immediately, ‘OK, how do we do it?’ These are the people who are helping save the world, right here in Hatfield, without hesitation jumped right in, and gave as much as they did. So we did that on Friday, and then we took a long trip down, and we took a long trip back,” he said.
As he spoke, township staff showed a video of the effort: a small pile of donated water and paper products in the lobby of the township building, growing larger and larger over time, then a large Shop Rite truck full of food and water — even a generator that went, almost immediately, to a family in need.
“Asheville was virtually unreachable, because you had switchbacks, and there was just no way we were going to be able to get them there with the van and the trucks. So we ended up going to Newport, Tennessee, which is about 30 minutes outside of Asheville, and that’s where they gathered the Asheville donations,” Zipfel said.
Hatfield Township staff, police and volunteers move a pile of supplies donated for hurricane and flooding victims in North Carolina on Oct. 25, 2024. (Credit: Hatfield Township)
Hatfield Township officials were assisted by a group of University of Tennessee students who helped unpack supplies donated for hurricane and flooding victims at a warehouse in Tennessee on Oct. 25, 2024. (Credit: Hatfield Township)
Jim and Kathi Madanci of ShopRite of Hatfield accept the Hatfield Hero Award from Board of Commissioners President Tom Zipfel. (Credit: Hatfield Township)
Jim and Kathi Madanci and family of ShopRite of Hatfield, which donated pallets of food, water and other items. (Credit: Hatfield Township)
(Credit: Hatfield Township)“As soon as the generator shows up, within half an hour the generator was on the back of somebody’s truck, and we were told that it was going to a single mom and her daughter who had lost everything — along with a camper that somebody had just donated. The camper shows up right around the time that we pulled in, the generator shows up, and then within an hour it was out and on its way.”
Penn Pro Roofing in North Wales honored as heroes
More photos followed, showing the crew from Penn Pro and Hatfield’s delegation unloading the supplies in the warehouse in Tennessee, and joined by a group of University of Tennessee students who decided to help out.
Hatfield Township Commissioners President Tom Zipfel, left, and Penn Pro Roofing President Alex Zebluim. (Credit: Hatfield Township)“Woke up that morning, out of the blue, had not notified anyone they were coming, drove two or three hours to the facility, and showed up at just the same time our Hatfield van showed up, and the Penn Pro guys showed up. If they had not showed up, it would’ve taken us a day to unload all the stuff; we got it done in just a couple of hours,” Zipfel said.
More photos: the Bergey’s van, Shoprite truck, and Penn Pro crew packing up at the Hatfield administration building, then heading south, unloading the supplies with the help of the Tennessee students in the massive warehouse, finished with that mom and daughter standing beside the donated camper and generator. Along with the pallets and packages, came a message, which Zipfel said he saw best summarized in a card that township Community Relations Coordinator Jay Gordon sent with the deliveries, and which Zipfel delivered to a church leader in Tennessee with a promise to bring it to Asheville.
“It was a beautiful note Jay had written, saying that we sent them everything we can, with our thoughts and prayers. And then she hugged me, and said that she was going to put this out on the internet where it’ll then be read in every church in the Asheville, North Carolina area, on that coming Sunday. So Jay’s note of faith and love and healing, from Hatfield, reached out to everybody,” Zipfel said.
After the slideshow, came gifts from the township to the helpers: Zipfel presented each with a ‘Hatfield Hero’ sculpture as thanks for their efforts. Alex Zebluim, President of Penn Pro Roofing, said employees came to him with the idea to help out, and made it happen.
Penn Pro Roofing Owner and CEO Alex Zebluim speaking at the Hatfield Commissioners meeting upon receiving the Heroes award. (Credit: Hatfield Township)“I said, ‘my heart is there, but our time and our budget isn’t,’ but he kept pushing,” Zebluim said, thanking the North Penn Volunteer Fire Company for help with loading, and several other businesses for pitching in: “There’s so many more people that need thanks and recognition. To those people, a big thanks to them for playing a part in this. We appreciate helping, and we appreciate the recognition.”
Jim Madanci, of ShopRite, added his own thanks for the award, and said they were proud to step up.
“Being part of the Hatfield community for 13 years, and being a family business, we feel our community is part of our family. And if our community is in need, we’re there for them, no matter what. We’re really blessed to be part of such a wonderful community,” he said.
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