Helping the Victims of Helene: All You Have to Do is Show Up

From my vantage point, the story that is told through those videos is a drastic departure from the story that has been told through conventional media, to the extent that the media has actually told a story. I’m sure that we’ve all probably seen a video here and there of a house being swept away by flood waters, but have you seen or heard the reports of entire neighborhoods and communities disappearing because of a landslide? That’s just one example of what there is to be found on YouTube. 

I’ve heard the devastation described as once-in-a-century and once-in-a-millennium. Maybe that explains why so many were caught off-guard, including those in charge of warning systems. As recounted by one local resident, it was only upon re-establishing cell phone service, something like seven days after Helene wreaked havoc, that a text message was received warning her to seek higher ground. The obvious implication is that the warning did not go out soon enough, or at least before critical utilities were impacted.

It is precisely because of the drastic nature of Helene’s impact, and the fact that the mountains are right down the road, that my wife and I felt compelled to do something, anything, to help. Couple that with the relative lack of reporting on the conditions in the mountains, and just the experience of getting to help, and I have some things that I wanted to share about what it was like and what I learned in the process.

The Devastation of Helene

The first thing that I would tell you is that upon driving into the mountains the destruction finds you—you don’t have to go looking for it. Living in the Piedmont of North Carolina, Interstate 40 is the most direct option to travel to Asheville, which is probably the most recognizable location to suffer the impact of Helene.

Traveling west on I-40, you begin to see evidence of Helene as soon as Morganton, which is about 45 minutes to an hour east of Asheville. As you travel farther, the signs only become more frequent and dramatic in scale—debris piled up by flood waters, cars destroyed and left in conditions that their owners could obviously not have managed and would not have chosen, and most notably, brown sections on the sides of buildings several feet high indicating how high the flood waters reached. If that isn’t enough, the sight of armed National Guard troops in open-air vehicles definitely sends a message.

Looking for Ways to Help

Backing up a bit, maybe some of you can relate to the ignorance and helplessness that I felt as I started looking into ways to get involved—i.e., I wanted to help, but just didn’t know how. Over the years, I’ve done some volunteering, as well as having stumbled into a part-time gig teaching folks to be better prepared in emergencies, but the problem that I experienced specifically revolved around the fact that I wasn’t a part of any group expressly designed for the kind of response that a Helene-type event requires. Fortunately, I was able to rely upon contacts I have within the law enforcement and military community to connect with the Blue Ridge Cowboy Church (BRCC) in Fairview, NC.

My experience at the church taught me several big lessons:

The first one that I would highlight probably sounds obvious, but I would absolutely stress that it can’t be emphasized enough: churches play an invaluable role during times like this. Specifically, churches serve as the distribution hub of goods and services, and this was certainly true of BRCC.

The scene upon pulling up to the church immediately made it apparent that an organized effort was underway, with the first sight being that of a church group out of Alabama that had traveled up exclusively for the purpose of providing warm meals. They had set up camp in a field, just off the side of the humble gravel road leading up to BRCC.

The cream-colored canvas that covered their tents, the smoke from the fires they were using to prepare food, and the tied-up horses being used to travel into areas that were inaccessible by road were reminiscent of a Civil War-era reenactment. Their large fifth-wheel trailer and the trucks of electrical linemen crews that surrounded the encampment, however, served as reminders that this was all the result of an event that would have its own story retold through future generations.

Traveling farther up the gravel road to BRCC, passenger vehicles lined each side, with more coming and going. Signs pointed the way to the church and advertised the hours during which those impacted by Helene could come and obtain basic goods they needed, all of which had been donated by all kinds of individuals and groups from all over.

The second big lesson that I learned: if you want to get involved after an event like Helene, just go—don’t wait for permission or instructions. Further, given the role that churches play, your best bet is most likely going to be to just head toward a church and ask how you can help, at minimum.

What Was Needed

Before hitting the road to help, I spoke with the pastor at BRCC just to confirm what I had been told, which was the simple fact that you could just show up and go to work. The pastor confirmed that was the case, as did our experience upon arriving. Thinking about it now, it was actually somewhat of a liberating experience to just be able to jump right into the mix. In other words, being someone who was willing and able to help was enough. I didn’t need to be a credentialed member of any official organization or possess any particular experience to qualify for involvement—I just needed to show up.

I will only claim to speak for myself, but the reason I would describe the experience in those terms is that it seems we live in a world that, if only as of late, has created the sentiment that unless you possess the proper qualifications, whatever those might be, you need to just “sit this one out”—i.e., good people can’t simply do good things. Frankly, verified examples from the Helene response support this notion.

One specific example that comes to mind is that of a helicopter pilot who was spending his own time and resources to rescue people who were trapped, because of road conditions, only to be told by a fire chief that if he made one more rescue flight he would have him arrested. The fire chief’s threat came after the pilot had just rescued a woman who was trapped with her husband. In order to rescue the woman, the pilot had to leave his own son, as the helicopter only had room for two, and the woman’s husband, who he told he would return to rescue as well. After being threatened with arrest, the pilot returned only to pick up his son, which he had been warned against doing and advised the husband that there was nothing more he could do.

I don’t know if it’s been determined, with clarity, why the fire chief felt compelled to issue such a threat, but I do know that other firefighters on-scene told the pilot that if he wanted to continue flying they would intervene and prevent him from being arrested. I also know that the response to the story was so swift and strong that helicopter flights were approved and sanctioned en masse thereafter. Enough with this digression, though.

Upon showing up to BRCC, it was immediately apparent that the shortest supply of help existed in the distribution of donated goods. So, consistent with just showing up and getting to work, my wife and I took a little time to understand the system they had established and jumped right in. Frankly, this was made easy, because of a simple concept they had adopted.

You know the reaction you have when you hear an idea that is so simple and so descriptive that you immediately know it’s a great one? That’s the reaction I had when I heard someone say, “It’s just like a store.” That was the simple concept they had adopted, down to organizing items, like canned goods, by size, brand, and contents.

There might be no greater visual that communicated the commitment the church had made to helping the community than the “store”, itself, which was located in the church’s sanctuary. All of the seating had been cleared to make room for tables and shelves to present donated items. As for the church, itself? Essentially, a large aluminum shed—unassuming and perfect, sitting at the end of a gravel road in the rural and mountainous terrain.

An ironic problem that the church experienced related to donated goods might be best described as an uneven distribution of all of the types of items that were in need. In other words, there was plenty that folks needed—everything from basic paper goods and cleaning supplies to charcoal grills and generators—but there was an overabundance of some items, like clothing, and not nearly enough of others, like laundry detergent.

The donation of items in excess prompted three responses from BRCC and its pastor. The most immediate was that some folks who showed up with items, like clothing, which had been donated in amounts beyond what would have ever been consumed, were simply turned away. Other items that would most likely be needed for some time to come, like food, but had been donated beyond what the “store” could hold, were kept in two Conex shipping containers for restocking purposes. The pastor had also begun communicating with other church leaders to turn their individual distribution hubs into a distribution network and reallocate items based on supply and demand.

At the risk of sounding trite, it was fulfilling and reinvigorating to have the opportunity to be surrounded by so many good people. Besides the simple fact that people simply showed up to help, it was also the distances they had traveled to do so and the amount of time that they had spent and were prepared to continue spending.

I already mentioned the folks from Alabama who, by the way, had been there for at least a couple of weeks already, but there was also the tractor salesman from Atlanta who had already been there a week, and had brought heavy equipment to help with cleanup. There was the nurse from Maine who had already been there about two weeks. There was the retired police officer from Michigan. There were the two guys from Mississippi who made a “day trip” in a U-haul to deliver a truckload full of donated items. And plenty more.

A Community in Crises

It was also the people who showed up in need of help, though. Specifically, a mother and daughter pair stood out. The daughter was probably in her 40s or 50s, with the mother being in her 70s. The mother needed the assistance of a walker to get around and shared with me that her daughter had her own health issues as well, including having had a liver transplant. It wasn’t until after they had spent several hours helping to “work” the “store” that they started picking out items they needed, revealing themselves to be local residents impacted by Helene.

As I mentioned previously, the church was also the hub out of which services were being delivered. This predominantly dealt with cleaning up downed trees, but also with checking on folks who might not have been heard from by loved ones and/or were known to be a bit more vulnerable. This, too, was a managed process, with the pastor and his wife serving to field incoming requests for help and relaying them to crews that had been organized to perform the work.

Before closing out, I wanted to be sure to share a simple story about the pastor of BRCC. Always dressed in jeans, a button-down shirt, cowboy boots, and of course, a cowboy hat, it was very obvious that he is a good man genuinely concerned about the people of his community and doing what he can to help them. A buddy of mine made the trip up to the mountains separately and had been asked by a friend of his if he could check on a lady who had not been heard from. Upon my friend mentioning to the pastor that he wanted to go check on her, the pastor, no questions asked, immediately took it upon himself to fill a box of miscellaneous items from the “store” to be delivered to the woman.

The devastation wrought by Helene is no doubt a travesty. The response that it has elicited, though, might be nothing short of a miracle. It’s important to understand the exact nature of the opportunity to respond, lest some be left only with the frustration of not knowing how they can get involved or whether they are allowed to.

If nothing else, I hope that my experience can serve as encouragement to those who want to help and convey the simple fact that all you have to do is show up.