Kamala Harris helps pack aid boxes for North Carolina hurricane victims

Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday helped pack diapers into boxes of personal care products destined for North Carolina hurricane victims agreeing with one helper who said it takes a village Youre exactly right Harris replied to Greg Hatem owner of The Pit Authentic Barbecue restaurant as she put two packages of diapers inside each cardboard box that was placed in front of her assemblyline styleHarris met with Black leaders at the barbecue restaurant in Raleigh before she joined volunteers who were there to pack bandages baby formula baby wipes pain relief pills and other items for victims of Hurricane Helene which tore through western North Carolina last monthThe vice president was overnighting in the state which narrowly backed her rival Republican Donald Trump in 2020 Democrats are campaigning hard to flip North Carolina into their column in the presidential election next month On Sunday Harris was attending church in Greenville as part of her campaigns Souls to the Polls effort to get out the vote and holding a rallyThe weekend trip was her second to the battleground state after it was struck by Hurricane Helene The Democratic presidential nominee went to North Carolina last Saturday to survey the aftermath of Helene and pledged federal assistance for its victims Before her plane left Washington Harris told reporters accompanying her that she looked forward to talking with residents first and foremost to see how theyre doing in the wake of the hurricaneDemocrats view North Carolina as swinging their way this year with its base of Black and collegeeducated voters as well as women concerned about the loss of abortion protections But the aftermath of Hurricane Helene has become a political flashpoint with former President Trump and his allies attacking the Biden administrations response to the natural disasterAt The Pit Harris met with Black elected faith and community leaders Her campaign did not release a list of the people she met with After church on Sunday Harris a Baptist was set to speak about her economic plans at a rally to generate support for early voting which starts Thursday in North CarolinaMaking landfall on Sept 26 Hurricane Helene resulted in the deaths of roughly 230 people and wiped out roads electrical power and cell phone service Just two weeks later Hurricane Milton hit Florida this week and generated an estimated 50 billion worth of damage and left several people deadHarris also visited Georgia after Helene struck there too in addition to virtually attending briefings on the federal governments response and rejiggering her campaign schedule She continued to travel for the presidential race with time spent this week in Nevada and ArizonaOne of her prime messages has been that there should be no price gouging by companies seeking to take advantage of shortages caused by the hurricanes an issue she has made central to her campaign as a way to tackle inflationTo any company or individual that is using this crisis to jack up prices through illegal fraud or price gouging whether it be at the gas pump the airport or the hotel counter we will be monitoring and there will be a consequence Harris said at Fridays briefingHowever Trump and his allies have falsely suggested that disaster relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency went to immigrants instead of hurricane victims while also suggesting that people are not getting the full financial support to which theyre legally entitledAt a recent rally in Reading Pennsylvania Trump said the response has been worse than during 2005s Hurricane Katrina which left nearly 1400 people dead and caused 200 billion in damagesNorth Carolinas been hit very hard and this administration has not done a proper job at all Terrible terrible Trump said at the rally adding that Harris was on a fundraising comedy tour while people are stranded and drowning all over some of our greatest states President Joe Biden has called Trumps falsehoods about the governments response unAmerican and told his predecessor to get a life manThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever