Harris helps pack aid boxes for North Carolina hurricane victims ahead of Sunday campaign push

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday helped pack diapers into boxes of personal care products destined for North Carolina hurricane victims, agreeing with one helper who said “it takes a village.”

“You're exactly right,” Harris replied to Greg Hatem, owner of The Pit Authentic Barbecue restaurant as she put two packages of diapers inside each cardboard box that was placed in front of her assembly-line style.

Harris met with Black leaders at the barbecue restaurant in Raleigh before she joined volunteers who were there to pack bandages, baby formula, baby wipes, pain relief pills and other items for victims of Hurricane Helene, which tore through western North Carolina last month.

The vice president was overnighting in the state, which narrowly backed her rival, Republican Donald Trump, in 2020. Democrats are campaigning hard to flip North Carolina into their column in the presidential election next month. On Sunday, Harris was attending church in Greenville as part of her campaign's “Souls to the Polls” effort to get out the vote and holding a rally.