The devastation caused by Hurricane Florence inspired development consultant Livian Jones to restart a nonprofit organization she had founded about 10 years ago called Furniture Finders, with the aim of providing people with the furniture they need to move on from life's struggles.

While some have already moved on from the September storm, which caused wind and flooding damage throughout the Wilmington area, Jones said it's important to remember that others haven't been so fortunate.

"It's easy to go on with our daily lives and jobs and ignore it, and we don't need to ignore it. We need to help," Jones said Thursday. 

Jones and volunteers from MegaCorp Logistics, a Wilmington-headquartered firm that specializes in transportation arrangements for full truckloads and less-than-full truckloads of goods, unloaded a tractor trailer full of couches and chairs Thursday morning into a former grocery store space at 2307 N. College Road. The La-Z-Boy Furniture facility in Rock Hill, South Carolina, donated the shipment.

Team Miller at MegaCorp -- which includes Missy Miller, John Dunlevy and Tammy Strickland -- worked to make the arrangements for Thursday's delivery, and more than 15 MegaCorp volunteers helped unload the items, including MegaCorp owner Ryan Legg and Jim Sanders, corporate operations director. 

"I just want to give back all I can to the hurricane victims. People lost everything," Strickland said after the delivery was completed Thursday.

Jones said Catholic Charities has helped connect her with 25 families that needed furniture, with eight more set to be helped this weekend.

"The folks that need the help will be there for the next couple of years, and we've got to figure out how to sustain the furniture coming in and the furniture going out and volunteers," Jones said. "I'm getting this done because there's a lot of need out there right now."

Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity is allowing Furniture Finders, which has been operating out of a former Rose's space at a shopping center in Ogden, to use the North College Road space. More information about Furniture Finders is available on the organization's Facebook page.

As outreach from community members and organizations continues in the Cape Fear region in the wake of the storm, another example is taking place this weekend in downtown Wilmington.

For women who lost their homes or possessions as a result of Hurricane Florence, the heart of cabi foundation and the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce are hosting an event to provide free cabi clothes.

"We have pallets of clothing ready to be distributed" from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Wilmington Chamber, 1 Estelle Lee Drive, according to a Facebook announcement about the event.