O

tto and Shelley Dube felt compelled to
help victims of Hurricane Helene after
seeing the widespread devastation that
the Category 4 hurricane caused across the south-
eastern U.S.
On a whim, the Farmington Hills husband-
and-wife duo decided to turn a trip visiting their
grandchildren in Cincinnati into a longer road
trip that took them to hurricane-battered North
Carolina, where they would deliver food to an
organization that supported the hungry.
The Dubes, who are retired (Otto served as
funeral director at Hebrew Memorial Chapel,
while Shelley was a longtime disc jockey and
voiceover artist), are no strangers to volunteering.
Shelley, 63, was Woman of the Year for Children
of Chernobyl; and Otto, 70, served as a youth
adviser for B’nai B’rith for 24 years. He was
also past president of its Minnesota-Wisconsin
Council.
In addition, the Dubes were both on the board
for the Anti-Defamation League Detroit chapter,
where they first met.
Being active in the community is a regular part
of their lives. They are driven by their Jewish

values. Otto is the son of Holocaust survivors,
while Shelley’s ancestor started the Detroit David-
Horodok Organization for descendants of the
small town ravaged in World War II.
Now, they pray daily for the missing hostages of
the Oct. 7 attacks.
Still, they sought out ways to help American cit-
izens in addition to their local volunteer work and
volunteer efforts abroad. After one of the biggest
and most devastating natural disasters to hit the
U.S. in recent years, the Dubes knew their efforts
should be focused on North Carolina.
For support, they rallied their neighbors, who
wrote checks and supplied food items. A kind
Costco manager opened the store’s warehouse to
the couple, who secured pillows, blankets, water
and dog food to take with them to North Carolina.
“Our car was brimming over,” Otto Dube recalls
of the recent October mission. “We even had
goods stuffed where the spare wheel is.”
The Dubes partnered with Second Harvest Food

Bank NWNC in Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
to help distribute the food and essential goods that
they brought with them from Michigan.
The nonprofit organization operates a Meals on
Wheels program, culinary school and food pan-
tries, as well as provides meals for people in med-
ical need. “The whole place is really fascinating,”
Shelley Dube says.
Second Harvest Food Bank NWNC brought the
donated food and goods to an airport in nearby
Avery County, North Carolina, where it was load-
ed onto helicopters and drones for delivery.
After witnessing the devastation firsthand, the
Dubes call themselves fortunate.
“We don’t get a lot of tornadoes or hurricanes
here in Michigan,” Shelley Dube says. “To have the
ability to actually physically go and help people, it
was amazing.”
“We’re very humbled,” Otto Dube adds of the
entire experience. “We’re very lucky to have the life
we do.”

PHOTO CREDIT

Otto and Shelley Dube
travel to North Carolina
with a car full of food
and essential goods.

A Mission
to Feed
Victims of
Hurricane
Helene

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY

16 | DECEMBER 12 • 2024 J
N

Otto Dube at the Second Harvest Food Bank NWNC in
Winston-Salem.
The Dubes stuffed their car with supplies for hurricane
victims.