Where The Needs Lead Us was founded by us, Kevin and Dawn Gillow. Here is our story

We live in PA but our heart is in TN. If you have ever been to the beautiful state then you understand. If you have not, put it on your list of must see.

We own a timeshare at Westgate Smoky Mountain Resort in Gatlinburg, TN since 2019. We have become close to many people and most we consider family now.

On September 27, 2024 Hurricane Helene made landfall in TN. We were actually on vacation that week and leaving on that Saturday, the 28th. While Kevin was driving home I surfed the internet and was seeing all the destruction left behind from Helene. I sent out several texts to check on our friends. Most were good but one told me about his little town of Newport, TN, population of around 7,000. With this news Kevin and I decided to start a donation drive to help Andy and Newport. As generous people started dropping things off and donating money, such an overwhelming feeling.

We called Andy to tell him what we were doing and how we wanted to help him and his town. He replied in a very respectful way, "No". After asking him why, his response was, "I am good and so is my town but I want you to help my team members first. There are 34 that were affected and 3 families totally displaced." We agreed.

We see it all the time on social media that people are struggling and could use a little help. I have personally been in those shoes and know the feeling.

With all of that we decided to make Where The Needs Lead Us an official 501c3 and help anyone anywhere that we can. Wherever the Needs Lead Us