Operation Blessing’s U.S. disaster relief team surprised Carol by rebuilding her ice cream shop after Hurricane Irene damaged the structure and also repairing her equipment.

SALVO, N.C. – “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!” read the brightly colored posters.

A crowd of Outer Banks residents had gathered outside the Village Conery ice cream shop holding posters and bright balloons, anxiously waiting for Carol, the shop’s owner, to arrive for a big surprise.

Just weeks earlier, Hurricane Irene struck the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the storm’s high winds, waves, and pounding rain washing roads away and flooding the area with several feet of water.

In the little town of Salvo, Carol’s home was devastated, and worse, she lost her entire source of income when her community ice cream shop flooded. Without insurance, Carol didn’t have the resources to make any repairs. And now without an income, she had no idea how she would ever recover.

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With the ice cream shop back in business, Carol has regained her livelihood and her hope.

When Operation Blessing’s disaster relief team met Carol, she was afraid she wouldn’t even be ready to reopen her ice cream shop by springtime when tourist season begins. To help, the team offered to repair her damaged equipment and sent it to Operation Blessing’s Chesapeake-based warehouse.

There, her freezers and other equipment were repaired and then returned to Salvo.

But little did Carol know the team was planning an even bigger surprise.

In just five days, Operation Blessing relief workers and volunteers completely repaired and rebuilt her little shop, replacing damaged dry wall, installing new flooring, and more. They even stocked it full of ice cream.

On the day of the big reveal, a crowd of volunteers and community residents welcomed Carol back to see the restored Village Conery ice cream shop, in full working order and ready to open.

“This is so good,” said Jenny Hooper, a local community leader on the hard-hit island. “It is a time for all of us to celebrate—we really needed this.”

“It was amazing to see the love of the community, because even with the downpour of rain they wanted to be there to celebrate with Carol,” added OBI’s director of U.S. disaster relief, Jody Herrington-Gettys.

To date, OBI’s Hurricane Irene efforts include helping more than 2,300 victims; serving more than 1,600 meals; and providing more than 3,400 hours of volunteer service to help victims with debris and clean up services, tree removal, and other repairs.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can help by making an online donation toward OBI's disaster relief efforts. With your support, we can continue to provide emergency relief and recovery. Please make an on-line donation today.

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