In late September, it had already been raining for days in Western North Carolina before the remnants of Hurricane Helene delivered another slow-moving storm front.
Residents sheltered in place and watched as creeks and streams rapidly filled and then flooded nearby homes. The water receded over the coming days, leaving homeowners to deal with mud and mold.
Fortunately, help would soon arrive. United Methodist Early Response Teams are trained to move in quickly following natural disasters.
It’s been six weeks since 69-year-old Anita McKinney had to flee her home during the days of heavy rain brought by Hurricane Helene.
Since the storm, United Methodist disaster response teams have been helping homeowners repair their homes at just the cost of materials.
“You know, no one out here in the mountains, I shouldn’t say no one, but most people don’t think about flood insurance. This just isn’t an area that’s prone to big floods like they had,” said Carolyn Koontz from Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia, who travels for two rebuilding projects a year. She’s made about 24 trips in her years as a trained Volunteer in Mission.
“We joined Bethlehem United Methodist Church because they had two trailers that were Volunteer in Mission Early Response trailers and I said, ‘That’s the church we need to go to.’”
Volunteers in Mission teams come in right after tornadoes, floods or hurricanes and keep coming back for years, because that’s how long it takes for communities to come back from a storm like Helene. This crew hopes to see McKinney back in her home by this time next year.
“They are doing wonderful — nice people — and helping a lot. I’m blessed. There’s a lot of good left in the world,” McKinney said.
Koontz said it’s what United Methodists are called to do.
“I just love that we’re the last ones to turn out the lights at the end of the project, and that The United Methodist Church is committed to helping communities in need from start to finish.”
To help those devastated by Hurricane Helene and other recent natural disasters, donations can be made to the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s U.S. Disaster Response. UMCOR also offers resources for disaster relief fundraising.
UM News contact: Julie Dwyer at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more news from The United Methodist Church, subscribe to the free Daily Digest or Weekly Digest.
