Sonia Royes
Cape Fear Region
Sonia Royes has been a Catholic Charities family case manager for 14 years. She serves at locations near Wilmington, including St. Joseph Mission in Burgaw, an area impacted by Florence.
On a normal Thursday, when the mission’s food pantry is typically open, she helps serve about 90 families.
Following the storm, though, that number increased four-fold.
At a distribution event on Sept. 28, she looked around at volunteers handing out mops and other supplies and saw only beauty.
“Some of these ladies have been following me from events at Transfiguration Church in Wallace. They promised to be here to help, too, and they are. And the Knights of Columbus have been wonderful,” she said. “I really wanted to cry … the way people are helping each other. It’s just so grand.”
Read more Humanity in the Hurricane.