September 24 through September 27, Western North Carolina was hit by Hurricane Helene. In the days that followed, the aftermath of the hurricane was shared all over social media and the news, but what is continuing to take place is not being talked about as much as it should be. Continue reading to see what the residents of Western North Carolina are struggling with – still – and how some of our students at RMA have helped out!

Since the storm hit and wiped out a portion of our beloved mountains, the people living in these towns have been drastically affected. The hurricane destroyed homes, buildings, and roads. Power has been restored to the homes that were salvageable (many weren’t, as you’ll see below), but there may still be limited access to clean running water. Just today (11/19), Asheveille ‘s boil-water advisory was lifted, but news outlets have not reported whether smaller towns have also had water services restored. In addition to wiping out the water supply (something that can be fixed), hurricane-related flooding wiped out entire towns that will probably never be restored. Chimney Rock was affected the worst with the Rocky Broad River destroying most of the small town. There were 15 businesses destroyed and 26 damaged, as well as 15 homes completely obliterated and 14 more damaged. For reference, Chimney Rock has a population of just 140 people, so these are huge losses.

Rocky Mount Academy has proudly helped the recovery effort. Just three days after the storm, the school sent out a request for supplies. We collected bottled water, toilet paper, paper towels, hygiene products, canned foods, cleaning supplies, diapers, and other basic necessities for affected families. The response was overwhelming: we collected an abundance of items that filled a big part of Bradley Hall to send to our fellow North Carolinians. About two weeks later, RMA had another request: warm clothing. With the start of fall weather and so many people needing to be outside for clean-up, there was a demand for coats, scarves, and gloves. Once again, we asked, and you came through for us! 

Additional members of the Rocky Mount Academy family reached out to hurricane-damaged areas through other organizations like their churches and businesses. From October 11 through October 13, freshman Millie Crumley went to Rutherfordton, North Carolina, with a group of people that included her mother and fellow RMA students Micah Boseman (senior) and John Bennet Godwin (sophomore) to help with Shingle Hollow Church. There they cooked hot meals for families  filled boxes with canned goods and nonperishable foods for people who were without refigeration due to power outages. On October 26, RMA’s Lower School EC teacher Mrs. Tickel and her son Seth (a senior) went to Boone, North Carolina, for hurricane relief through Samaritan’s Purse. They stayed at what Seth describes as an abandoned nursing home that the Rock Church restored for volunteers to use. The next day they were sent to West Jefferson with a group of people to help a lady clean up her house, which consisted of tearing out floors and cleaning up brush, as well as getting trees out of the road so that others could access the homeowner’s house. After that, Seth and Mrs. Tickle’s group was sent to clean up yet more debris and then did a damage assessment on an elderly woman’s trailer to see if it was salvageable; sadly, it was not.

Some of my fellow RMA students–Mary Powell Chestnut, Elizabeth Paszek, Maggie Paszek Ellen Feagans, Britt Gaynor, Frances Tharin, Cate Powers, and Savannah Norton–and I went up to Montreat on November 1 willing to help with whatever we could. If you haven’t heard of it, Montreat is a little town outside of Black Mountain that hosts a college campus (Montreat College) that is used for all sorts of church, women’s, and college retreats throughout the year. Arriving in the area, we saw massive piles of trees and debris everywhere. Although Montreat was not affected like the rest of Western North Carolina–particularly Swannanoa, which was completely wiped out with piles of houses and trees on the side of the road–it was still painful to see one of the places I love in such poor condition. We had gone to Montreat hoping to make a difference in the cleanup, but the destruction was so bad that we could do very little. The things that genuinely needed to be worked on required equipment that we did not have. With nothing else to offer, we helped close down the campsites for the season around Montreat since that was one of the things the staff wanted help with; we were told this would be helpful for the teams that were arriving soon to help clean up the major debris left behind by the hurricane.

It’s now been two months since Hurricane Helene hit, and the RMA family is still doing all they can to help. Just this weekend freshman Emma Vire went with Arlington Baptist Church on a mission trip to Boone to help clean up. They separated into different groups. Emma’s relocated flats of water that had been donated, others helped move firewood to a man’s house, and the remaining group moved ruined furniture out of another house. As the tasks Emma and Arlington Baptist Church took on show, much of the recovery effort is focused on helping just one family and cleaning up just one house at a time.

As we head into exams and the holidays, please remember that just because it’s been two months ago since Hurricane Helene hit, that does not mean that help is not still needed.