Durham church will hold event to help those coping with Ebola

Carol Barclay, with the Mother Afrika Organization, said even with the Ebola crisis in parts of west Africa, the effects hit close to home. 

"My family members live right in Monrovia, and they said a few of their neighbors died from Ebola and they were in quarantine," Barclay said. 

 The latest Ebola outbreak is the largest and longest ever recorded for the disease, which has a death rate of about 50 percent and has so far killed at least 961 people, according to the U.N. health agency. It emerged in Guinea in March and has since spread to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.

"I have to kids here and I want them to know their grandmother, they never knew my father," said Pearl Forbes with the Mother Afrika Organization. 

For Barclay and Forbes, the images of pain and suffering because of Ebola, fuel a heartfelt need to help. 

"This is a humanitarian effort, we're all pulling together, we are pretty much crying out for help." Barclay said. 

"I love North Carolina, Raleigh is my home but Liberia is also my home, that's my heart, and North Carolina, so anything can help," she said. 

Volunteers will be collection supplies and donations at the People Christian Church on Harvard Street in Durham from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.