As a child growing up in the Eastern North Carolina town of Wilson, Joseph Knight lost his family home when Hurricane Floyd ravaged the coast in 1999.
So after Tropical Storm Helene hit Western North Carolina, Knight knew he had to do all he could to help the community. As director and CEO of Hendersonville’s Hands On! Children’s Museum, he was in a good position to do just that.
Unlike many other places around town, the Main Street museum had power and running water after the storm hit. On the morning of Monday, Sept. 30, Knight and staff members and volunteers opened the facility to the public, offering breast-pumping stations, outlets to charge devices and the use of bathrooms.
“A lot of families just need a safe place to come after something like this,” Knight says. “I know what it feels like firsthand.”
In addition, the museum announced on social media that it was accepting diapers, baby formula, water, food and other items. As word spread, donations poured in, and the museum was able to distribute them to people who came in. The museum stayed open 9 a.m.-3 p.m. all week.
“As a nonprofit, we feel we can best serve the community by being a free resource center for families in need,” Knight says. “It’s about giving back to the community. If we can help alleviate the situation a little bit, it’s worth it.”
That community spirit was evident throughout Hendersonville in the days following the storm. Oklawaha Brewing Co. in downtown was open Saturday, Sept. 28, and allowed people to charge devices and get water from a keg. The Skyland Barber Shop on Main Street gave out free water and T-shirts while supplies lasted and offered one of the few working ATMs in town.
The following are just a few stories of neighbors helping neighbors in the wake of Helene’s devastation.
Living faith
Justin Alexander drove to Travelers Rest, S.C., on Saturday, Sept. 28. It was the closest place Alexander, the senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Hendersonville, could find to get internet access so that he could post a video to Facebook
Alexander wanted to get word out to his congregants: “We’re here. We’re going to do something.”
The church, Alexander decided, should become a central distribution center for people in Henderson County in need of food, water, diapers, toiletries and other supplies. He asked people to donate supplies and come to the church to help out.
“The outpouring has been incredible,” he says. “It was cool to see our church members decide to show up. People from the community decided to show up and serve.”
The church planned to start distributing goods at noon Monday, Sept. 30, but people started lining up at 7 a.m. “By 11 o’clock, the line was wrapped around our building, down 5th Avenue, and it was blocking the entire intersection. So we just had to go ahead and open. I honestly don’t know how many thousands we served [that day].”
About 100 people volunteered the first day, with many more coming out to help the rest of the week. And thanks to the generosity of others, they had plenty of goods to give out. Tractor-trailers full of supplies arrived all week from places as far away as Charleston, S.C., and Alabama, Alexander says. Walmart delivered a full truckload of bottled water.
“We’ve had families who heard about what’s going on just showing up with trucks full of supplies,” he adds. “We had somebody drop off an entire generator, new right out of the box.”
All the work was being done at a church that lacked power.
“As Christians, we’ve been called to be the hands and feet of Jesus,” Alexander says. “This is a great opportunity for us to live what we actually believe. We’re not truly being the church and being who Jesus has called us to be if we’re not willing, in the middle of tragedy and disaster, to step up and love the people around us.”
‘Can’t sit and do nothing’
At Immaculate Conception Catholic Church’s masses on Sunday, Sept. 29, the Rev. David O’Connor announced that anyone who needed supplies should head over to Immaculata Catholic School and see Principal Margaret Beale.
“We just went into the classrooms and various closets and pulled out the supplies that people might need,” Beale says. “And we just started handing them out to people who came over.”
That same day, Beale started working with Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte. The charitable organization sent trucks full of supplies to the school all week.
And after putting out a call on Facebook, Immaculata started getting truckloads of donations from all over the South. “This is one of the few beautiful things about social media,” she says with a laugh.
Using the school’s car line, Beale and a group of parishioners, parents and students distributed water, food and other supplies all week. The school also sent trucks to other distribution points, such as Asheville Catholic School, Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Brevard and St. Barnabas Catholic Church in Arden.
They were even able to help out at nearby Hendersonville High School, which UNC Health Pardee was operating as a medical shelter for people with medically necessary devices. “We walked over there to see what they needed, and they were in desperate need of adult diapers,” she explains. “And we had them, so we brought them there.”
Beale is modest about her contributions to the school’s efforts, but one parishioner isn’t buying it.
“She doesn’t sleep at night; she’s up at like 3:30 in the morning,” said the woman, who was helping distribute goods. “This woman is amazing. She’s a godsend.”
Beale says she felt she had no choice but to step up.
“When you see the pictures of all of the destruction that has happened, and you look at how lucky you are, you can’t just sit and do nothing,” she explains. “These are our families, and we have to take care of them. We have helped thousands of people.”
A cup of joe
Sometimes it’s the little things.
On Tuesday, Oct. 1, branch manager Judy Edwards went to Park National Bank on Main Street in hopes that the bank’s Greenville, S.C., branch would be delivering cash that day. Without reliable cell service, she wasn’t sure the money would be arriving.
In the meantime, she figured she could bring a little joy to the community. After all, she says, she had it better than many with a generator and gas grill at her house.
All along Main Street, people were charging their devices on the city’s power outlets and logging on to some of the available Wi-Fi networks. “I saw people out and about, and I thought ‘Well, I can make some coffee.’”
Edwards brought the bank’s coffee maker outside and starting offering free cups to caffeine-starved passersby. She even had sugar and creamer.
“God bless you,” one man said.
“Can I pay you?” another grateful pedestrian asked.
“No, you can’t,” she responded. “But you can pay me with a blessing.”
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