
Sioux Falls Family Spreads Kindness to Hurricane Helene Victims
Some of the biggest, kindest, hearts in the nation live right here in the Sioux Empire.
A case in point is a Sioux Falls woman, and her family who have encountered many adversities in life, but choose to answer all those tragedies with the heart of a Samaritan.
Allow me to introduce you to Stephanie Spader Pavlik.
As Dakota News Now reports, Pavlik has lost a 10-year-old daughter to cancer, a husband to suicide, and a pre-adolescent nephew to complications of a genetic disorder.

In the wake of the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene, Pavlik, and her parents recently decided to raise funds and donate an RV unit for a family in North Carolina they've never met whose entire campground for veterans with PTSD was wiped out by the hurricane.
Pavlik told Dakota News Now, "Our family has lost a lot ourselves. We’ve never lost our home. We’ve never lost everything. We’ve had each other. We’ve had family, and, so for these people that have literally lost everything, it was just a way that we could give back.“
Once he found out what Pavlik and her family intended to do, Rob Flannery, the recipient of the Pavlik family's generosity, was overcome with emotion himself.
According to Dakota News Now, once Flannery found out that a family from South Dakota was donating him a state-of-the-art, Shadow Cruiser Ultra-Lite camper he broke down in tears.
Flannery told Dakota News Now, “I started crying. The impact that they will make in other people’s lives will be phenomenal, even though they have never met them.”
What prompted Pavlik and her family to donate the camper to Flannery?
Dakota News Reports, that in the aftermath of the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, Flannery created a Facebook post with pictures that illustrated all the wreckage done to the campground resulting from Helene.
While on a fishing trip with her father near Milbank earlier this month, Pavlik heard about some friends who planned to donate a camper to people in North Carolina who lost their house in Hurricane Helene. Upon hearing that news, she too was inspired to do the same thing.
Pavlik mentioned the idea to her father and they both agreed it was something they needed to do.
Camping and the military have always been a big part of their life.
Pavlik's father was a veteran who fought in the Vietnam War, so they decided to donate an RV to a deserving military family who had lost everything in the storm.
According to Dakota News Now, Pavlik reached out to her friends in Minnesota who had also donated a camper to a North Carolina hurricane victim. She asked for their help in trying to help find another deserving family who had lost their home.
Pavlik also created a Facebook post of her own detailing her desire to help a family affected by Hurricane Helene. In addition to donating a camper, Pavlik wanted to fill the RV with various items a family would need to live out of a camper. Items like generators, household supplies, clothes, toiletries, and non-perishable food.
Needless to say, after publishing the post, a swarm of generosity began to pour in from those who read the social media message. Thousands of dollars have been donated to help fill the camper with supplies.
While all this was happening, Pavlik's Minnesota camper friends made contact with a church in the Helene-swamped area of North Carolina. Dakota News Now reports that the church was successful in connecting them with the Flannery’s and Sweet Dreams North Cove, and a military family in need of an RV camper unit.
The camper in question will take off for North Carolina on Thursday, (October 24).
If you too feel inspired to donate to this heartfelt cause, you can Venmo the foundation @UnbrokenandBraveFoundation (code 6547) or message for an address to mail a check.
Source: Dakota News Now
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Gallery Credit: Ben Kuhns
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