Around 6:30 a.m., Raleigh fire crews were called to the building on Rock Quarry Road. Officials reported no injuries, but the organization's primary operations space sustained significant damage.
Sylvia Wiggins, the CEO and founder of Helping Hand Mission, said she woke to the news that the facility-a vital hub for distributing food, clothing, and supplies-had been heavily impacted.
"It's just been a rough first day, devastating to me," Wiggins said.
Fire officials said that around 40 firefighters initially responded, and due to the facility's size, an additional 25 personnel were called in. Battalion Chief Dena Ali stated that the swift response prevented the fire from spreading through the building.
"It's a pretty large building, and with the amount of property on site, we called for a second alarm," Ali said. "There's a lot of damage to the front of the building. But fortunately, the first-arriving crews did a really good job and prevented the fire from spreading inside."
Wiggins said staff had been at the site recently preparing boxed items for families in need, and many of those materials were lost.
"Some of the stuff we were working on has been burned down. The inside of the building is major," she said. "It's now considered an unsafe building. All our contacts and the people we had on our list to work with and help-all that's gone now. Everything in our office was just burned out."
Despite the setback, Wiggins said the organization's mission will continue.
"We would never let this go. This is bigger than me, bigger than a building," she said. "We are very resilient, and we're going to continue."
Helping Hands Mission, known for rallying around families in crisis, is now hoping the community will rally around them as they work toward recovery.