Middletown Teen Thanks Community For Donating To North Carolina Victims

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — In November, we reported how a high school senior girl at Middletown High School South collected supplies for people devastated by hurricanes in North Carolina.

The local teen is Hannah Gorsegner, and she and her Mom, Dad and sister drove the supplies down to the Asheville area in early December.

Gorsegner now wants to thank the Middletown community for helping donate to her cause.

"I just finished creating this 'thank you' video that I'm hoping will reach every amazing person who took the time to order or drop off the much-needed supplies," she said this week.

The Gorsegner family left Middletown on Dec. 5 and arrived at the Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry Dec. 6, where they dropped off all the items the people of Middletown had donated. The family returned to the Christian church the next day, where they sorted items for distribution in their warehouse.

Gorsegner also created this GoFundMe because "while we were down there helping out, we were connected with a mom of six who was affected by the storm and is still struggling (due to losing her home and job, and FEMA running out). As she doesn’t have anyone to lean on, me and my family have decided to try and help her the best we can."

Here are some of the items the Gorsegner family collected, much of which was donated by Middletown residents:

- 30 propane heaters
- 22 sleeping bags
- 81 boxes of diapers and pull-ups
- 141 jars of peanut butter
- 2 gigantic generators
- "While I don’t have the exact number, I can estimate about 300 cans of various types of food."

Hannah said she was inspired to help the North Carolina hurricane victims because she is taking a class at Middletown South called "Holocaust, Genocide and Modern Humanity."

"As part of the class, you have to do a project that will better a community," said the teen. "When I asked my teacher if I could do this for the project, she was on board and gave me the tools I needed to get the school involved."

You can say that helping others is truly in Hannah's blood: Hannah's mother is Andrea Gorsegner, who started Infinite Love For Kids Fighting Cancer, based in Middletown. And when her parents were in their twenties, on their first wedding anniversary, they packed a trailer full of supplies and drove it south to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Prior: Middletown Teen Has Until Dec. 3 To Help North Carolina Victims