The Team: Charlie, Dallas, Gabriel, & Dennis
Our team from CCO had the privilege of spending a few cold days in Asheville, NC partnering with Calvary Chapel Asheville and serving homeowners who had their homes destroyed by Hurricane Helene. We heard that they got hit the hardest in this area and were in desperate need of help.
Immediately after the hurricane hit, Calvary Disaster Relief partnered with Calvary Chapel Asheville to get to work on helping homeowners that were affected. This church has set themselves up as a base of operations so they could not only help with rebuilding homes, but also to provide for all the other needs like food, clothing, generators, diapers, heaters, toiletries, etc. They transformed their sanctuary and fellowship hall into a "store" where the community could come in and get whatever they needed to survive.
When we first arrived in Charlotte, NC we had the opportunity to take a quick pit stop at the Billy Graham Library and learn more about the amazing legacy that he left behind and to see all the important work that his ministries have done and continue to do around the world.
As we drove into Asheville, we became immediately aware of the devastation that had taken place here in North Carolina. Over 100k+ homes destroyed. Hundreds of people have died. Our first day after getting our job assignments at CC Asheville, we drove for an hour through the hills around Asheville on washed out, one lane, & closed roads to get in to where the most destruction is. This journey normally would have been about 30 minutes. Since many roads have been destroyed, there have been makeshift roads created through hills and random areas so homeowner and work crews can get into these areas. It’s truly incredible to see the magnitude of it all. Many people have still not been able to get into their homes yet. Many homes belonged to people to who were unable to get out and died in the hurricane and flooding.
We spent all day working on a single home on a hill that had a switchback staircase leading up to the only way into the house. The stairs had been completely destroyed in the hurricane and so we were rebuilding them so the homeowners could get back into their house for the first time in 5 months. What was really cool is how the Lord orchestrated things because the team at CC Asheville did not know how they would be able to fix these stairs, but the week before we arrived, a construction truck showed up with a trailer full of pre-made stairs and asked if they needed them. Of course, they said yes!
Our second day, it was really cold and we got snow. This meant that we couldn’t get up into the hills today to work on more houses there, but they had plenty of work for us to do at the church. They had received a large trailer full of donated diapers and wipes that we needed to unload into a storage trailer. Then we relocated a trailer load of donated generators from a shed to a shipping container. We then spent the rest of the day reorganizing the tool sheds that had gotten chaotically disorganized since they’ve had hundreds of volunteers here over the past few months.
We finished our evening joining their church for their Wednesday evening prayer, dinner, and teaching time. This is a really great fellowship here with amazing people.
Our third and last day here in NC was really cold! 19° but felt like 3° with the wind chill.
We went into an area called, Swannanoa, that had experienced a drastic and rapid flood with only minimal warning to the people. Within an hour of the warning, the flood waters were up to the height of the roofs. Amazingly everyone in this neighborhood was able to get out and survive by climbing out onto their roofs and then people from a nearby neighborhood that wasn’t impacted grabbed their rafts and kayaks and rescued everyone.
Unfortunately everyone’s houses were destroyed. Some beyond repair. Some were completely gone. The house we were in been almost completely rebuilt other than the roof. All new floor joists, flooring, framing, plumbing and electrical was mostly done already. We spent our time doing pressure tests on the plumbing to ensure it meets code and gets approved by the inspector. It required a lot of cutting and reconnecting of the pipes and then testing the pressure over and over again until it held the correct level of pressure. Once this step is complete, the insulation and sheetrock can go in and then homeowner is one step closer to moving back inside. Currently the people that live here have been sleeping in an RV trailer parked out front and 2 converted sheds out back that were donated by Cabins For Christ. The team from Calvary Chapel Asheville has been working on this house for months with team after team of volunteers to get this home done.
This whole area saw a lot of destruction and most of the businesses are just a pile of rubble now. Please continue to pray for everyone in North Carolina and consider donating or coming to help the people that have lost so much. It will take years for the people to recover and get back to any kind of "normal" again. We are thankful that we were able to come and make a small impact for them.
Immediately after the hurricane hit, Calvary Disaster Relief partnered with Calvary Chapel Asheville to get to work on helping homeowners that were affected. This church has set themselves up as a base of operations so they could not only help with rebuilding homes, but also to provide for all the other needs like food, clothing, generators, diapers, heaters, toiletries, etc. They transformed their sanctuary and fellowship hall into a "store" where the community could come in and get whatever they needed to survive.
When we first arrived in Charlotte, NC we had the opportunity to take a quick pit stop at the Billy Graham Library and learn more about the amazing legacy that he left behind and to see all the important work that his ministries have done and continue to do around the world.
As we drove into Asheville, we became immediately aware of the devastation that had taken place here in North Carolina. Over 100k+ homes destroyed. Hundreds of people have died. Our first day after getting our job assignments at CC Asheville, we drove for an hour through the hills around Asheville on washed out, one lane, & closed roads to get in to where the most destruction is. This journey normally would have been about 30 minutes. Since many roads have been destroyed, there have been makeshift roads created through hills and random areas so homeowner and work crews can get into these areas. It’s truly incredible to see the magnitude of it all. Many people have still not been able to get into their homes yet. Many homes belonged to people to who were unable to get out and died in the hurricane and flooding.
We spent all day working on a single home on a hill that had a switchback staircase leading up to the only way into the house. The stairs had been completely destroyed in the hurricane and so we were rebuilding them so the homeowners could get back into their house for the first time in 5 months. What was really cool is how the Lord orchestrated things because the team at CC Asheville did not know how they would be able to fix these stairs, but the week before we arrived, a construction truck showed up with a trailer full of pre-made stairs and asked if they needed them. Of course, they said yes!
Our second day, it was really cold and we got snow. This meant that we couldn’t get up into the hills today to work on more houses there, but they had plenty of work for us to do at the church. They had received a large trailer full of donated diapers and wipes that we needed to unload into a storage trailer. Then we relocated a trailer load of donated generators from a shed to a shipping container. We then spent the rest of the day reorganizing the tool sheds that had gotten chaotically disorganized since they’ve had hundreds of volunteers here over the past few months.
We finished our evening joining their church for their Wednesday evening prayer, dinner, and teaching time. This is a really great fellowship here with amazing people.
Our third and last day here in NC was really cold! 19° but felt like 3° with the wind chill.
We went into an area called, Swannanoa, that had experienced a drastic and rapid flood with only minimal warning to the people. Within an hour of the warning, the flood waters were up to the height of the roofs. Amazingly everyone in this neighborhood was able to get out and survive by climbing out onto their roofs and then people from a nearby neighborhood that wasn’t impacted grabbed their rafts and kayaks and rescued everyone.
Unfortunately everyone’s houses were destroyed. Some beyond repair. Some were completely gone. The house we were in been almost completely rebuilt other than the roof. All new floor joists, flooring, framing, plumbing and electrical was mostly done already. We spent our time doing pressure tests on the plumbing to ensure it meets code and gets approved by the inspector. It required a lot of cutting and reconnecting of the pipes and then testing the pressure over and over again until it held the correct level of pressure. Once this step is complete, the insulation and sheetrock can go in and then homeowner is one step closer to moving back inside. Currently the people that live here have been sleeping in an RV trailer parked out front and 2 converted sheds out back that were donated by Cabins For Christ. The team from Calvary Chapel Asheville has been working on this house for months with team after team of volunteers to get this home done.
This whole area saw a lot of destruction and most of the businesses are just a pile of rubble now. Please continue to pray for everyone in North Carolina and consider donating or coming to help the people that have lost so much. It will take years for the people to recover and get back to any kind of "normal" again. We are thankful that we were able to come and make a small impact for them.
Pictures from our trip!