Mission Mules Send Winter Supplies to 50+ Isolated McDowell County Families

Mission Mules announced Jan. 30 that it sent pack animals into McDowell County to deliver winter supplies to more than 50 families who have been cut off as a deteriorating bridge made vehicle access unsafe. The operation aims to reach households facing urgent shortages of heat, food and water ahead of an approaching storm.

The nonprofit, formed out of Mountain Mule Packers, hauled six mules to Betsey Branch Road in Iaeger and has been moving supplies into remote hollers where conventional vehicles cannot travel. Mike Toberer, CEO of Mountain Mule Packers and founder of Mission Mules, said, “We got a call from people here saying they needed help in these hollers where we’re at right now.” Toberer described the teams’ route as grueling: “We basically are going through washed-out culverts through the creek getting them what they need.”

Mission Mules and its partners have been making repeated trips. Toberer said early deliveries brought food and water and that crews returned with heaters and propane, noting, “This is the second day we’ve come back, we took food and water before, now we’re taking heaters and propane.” Volunteers and partners loaded mules with food, water, heaters, propane, warm clothing, winter gear and other winter supplies to transport into areas “where roads end,” which Mission Mules frames as its mission: “Our mission is to reach families where roads end and access is limited.”

Press reports describe joint efforts on the ground: U.S. Air Force soldiers and West Virginia State troopers helped pack mules for the deliveries, and one local report identified the United Cajun Navy as a partner in using pack-animal logistics. Available accounts do not specify whether all partners worked together on the same runs. The nonprofit traces its disaster relief work back to response after Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina and grew out of Mountain Mule Packers’ work with military training operations. Toberer said, “Our company, Mountain Mule Packers, we work with the military, that was our business, we work with special forces.” He added, “When our power came back on where we lived, they showed the inaccessible areas. Me and my guys, we realized that’s what we needed to do. We can go through that.”

The public health stakes are immediate. Households facing no propane, limited food and loss of heat are at elevated risk for hypothermia, complications of chronic illness, disrupted medication regimens and delayed emergency care when roads are impassable. Local infrastructure failures such as a deteriorating bridge can compound longstanding equity gaps in rural emergency planning and access to health services.

Mission Mules and local reporters say donations are being collected through the organization’s Amazon link and that “donated items go directly to families in need.” For readers who want to help or learn more, contact Mission Mules through its official channels to confirm current needs and drop-off or shipping instructions.

For McDowell County residents and neighbors, the mule runs are a reminder that patchwork volunteer responses can save lives in the short term but that durable solutions require investment in bridges, road maintenance and coordinated emergency planning so people in hollow communities are not left reliant on last-mile relief.