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Wives of linemen work together to provide workers responding to Hurricane Helene with necessities

By WHIO Staff
By WHIO Staff

GREENE COUNTY — First Energy has sent more than 100 Ohio line workers to North Carolina to help restore power following Hurricane Helene, but those line workers need help too.

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Line workers sent to disaster sites are on the front lines of restoration and cleanup. They also get to see the damage to communities firsthand.

“They see a lot of devastation and a lot of destruction,” Penny Jo Bilbrey said.

Workers are often living in the same conditions as them, meaning basic necessities can be hard to come by. That’s where Bilbrey and others come in.

Bilbrey created a Facebook support group for wives of linemen to help workers get access to basic necessities.

“These guys will message their wives, ‘Hey, I need the laundry done. Hey, we haven’t anything good to eat or, you know, we’re out of drinks,’” Blibrey said.

From there, she finds people who live near the workers in need and gets someone to bring them what they need. Since 2015 they’ve successfully helped those helping others.

Some of the supplies they need are medical as well. As reported on News Center 7 at 5:30, Bilbrey made a Facebook post about getting insulin to a crew in North Carolina and found someone to help just five minutes down the road from her house.

“I just understand what people are going through and especially with people who are on insulin,” Taylor Duhan said.

Instead of going to a wedding, Duhan will be delivering insulin more than an hour away from the venue.

“There is no reason for them not to be able to get it and so I would rather miss a wedding with my family and take medicine down to them,” she said.

Duhan is picking up the insulin on Wednesday evening and leaves to deliver it in North Carolina on Friday.

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