FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 11, 2025

The “Spirit of North Carolina” Award was given to the Community of Hickory for Hurricane Helene Relief Efforts

HICKORY, N.C. — The Community of Hickory has been awarded the distinguished “Spirit of North Carolina” Award, recognizing extraordinary contributions to Hurricane Helene relief efforts across western North Carolina. The award was presented on Monday, April 7, at the Visit NC Tourism Conference Awards Luncheon.

This honor celebrates the collaborative spirit, generosity, and swift action shown by the people of Hickory during one of the region’s most challenging times.

“The Community of Hickory has exemplified the spirit of North Carolina by going beyond expectations in helping neighbors,” said Visit NC Executive Director Wit Tuttell. “Hundreds of groups and thousands of people came together—housing emergency workers, providing water, delivering goods to the mountains, and supporting those most in need.”

Following Hurricane Helene, the Hickory area quickly became a critical base of operations for relief and recovery:

  • Local hotels opened their doors to emergency personnel, utility crews, doctors, nurses, and federal agencies. These hotels operated at full capacity for weeks under intense pressure, often without access to standard systems in the immediate aftermath—yet still managed to house and support thousands of responders. Many of these teams remain in the area, continuing recovery work today.
  • The City of Hickory mobilized staff from all departments to assist communities more severely impacted by the storm. Most notably, the city provided 19 million gallons of water to affected areas in western North Carolina, with over a dozen private companies transporting this essential resource to those in need.
  • The Hickory Regional Airport, as the largest operational airport in western North Carolina after the storm, became a vital hub for coordinated rescue, relief, and recovery missions from local, state, and federal agencies.
  • The Hickory Metro Convention Center served as a temporary distribution and storage facility for the local United Way, receiving donated goods from across the country.
  • The Visitors Bureau helped facilitate connections throughout the hospitality industry to keep operations moving efficiently.

Hickory-Conover Tourism Development Authority (HCTDA) Board Members Warren Wood and Brad Lail accepted the award.

“I am deeply honored to accept the Spirit of North Carolina Award on behalf of the Community of Hickory,” said Lail, HCTDA Board Member and Hotelier. “While I may be one of the faces accepting this honor, the real heroes—those who embodied the true spirit of North Carolina—are the tireless hotel staff. Their dedication, matched by the City’s remarkable response and the airport’s vital role in relief coordination, represents the best of who we are. This award belongs to every individual who stepped up when it mattered most.”

HCTDA Board Member and Hickory City Manager Warren Wood added, “The City of Hickory is incredibly honored to have received this prestigious award. Hickory was fortunate in that we avoided the very worst of the storm, and we were able to help those in need to our west. Those we were able to help would have done the same for us.”

This award not only recognizes the unified effort of Visit Hickory and the local tourism and hospitality industry, but the powerful resilience and compassion of the entire Hickory community.

For more information about Visit Hickory, please visit www.visithickorync.com. 

For more information about Visit NC, please visit https://partners.visitnc.com/about-visit-nc