Churchgoers, volunteers 'find hope, hold fast' to faith following Tropical Storm Helene

Inside Courtney Walker’s home in Asheville, there’s a certain hour in the evening when everything becomes black.

“We have flashlights in the house, and we just sit there and kind of look at each other,” Walker said of her family who have been without power and water in the week since Tropical Storm Helene hit.

Similarly, Lolita Harrison hasn’t had running water. Much like the rest of the Helene-ravaged community, she and her husband have fetched water from the creek to use as “gray water” for flushing toilets.

They’ve used paper plates and other disposable items to eat as they cannot wash dishes. They were temporarily without power after the storm, but it’s been restored. Harrison acknowledged that even when the house lost electricity, she was fortunate her gas stove allowed her to cook.

That hasn’t been the case for Walker and her folks. Instead, she’s grabbed food and other resources from distribution centers including her church, Saint James African Methodist Episcopal.

It’s also there that she’s found comfort and hope at a time when such things appear to be in short supply.

The storm left a path of destruction across the region and a death toll that’s risen to more than 200, according to local officials. Most of those occurred in Western North Carolina, where hundreds more remain missing.

Attending Sunday’s 11 a.m. service — the church’s first since Helene — Walker hoped to hear Rev. Douglas Bynum deliver an uplifting message to “keep us going” and a reminder that God “is in charge.”

Harrison, a fellow congregant, echoed the thought.

“He is in charge, He will not put more on us than we can bear,” Harrison said.

That's the sentiment Bynum hoped to instill in his congregation Sunday morning. He read from the Book of Job, the Old Testament story of Job, a devout believer in God whose faith was tested through a series of adversities.

“Today's homily is about finding hope and holding fast to what you believe, even when troubles come and when the tribulations of life rise,” he said ahead of the service, which gathered a dozen members, down from the 35 to 50 who usually attend.

For the relatively new pastor, appointed to the role in May, his message, which he titled “When Trouble Comes,” also served as a lesson for himself as he acknowledged his struggle to remain “emotionally sturdy" in the face of the crisis.

“All of this happening in the first six months is, I think, for me, indicative of God placing us where he needs us to be, for when he needs us to be there,” he said.

What’s helped Bynum cope so far is just staying busy.

“I think it is really being of assistance to the community of being busy doing something that's productive,” he said.

That includes getting the church’s distribution center up and running.

In the past week, the church has amassed a collection of food and supplies thanks to donations from various agencies, businesses and nonprofits. Some of these include Buncombe County, Kodiak Upfitters, United Methodist Church, Hearts with Hands, Capital Square Living and Democracy Green.

Dozens of volunteers, both within and outside of the church, have stepped up to organize and administer those provisions to those in need.

One such volunteer is Valerie Cason-Bond. She’s a recreational therapist at a local hospital and is one of the ministry’s stewards who helps the pastor run the church.

Cason-Bond said she wanted to dedicate more of her free time at the church this past week, helping to inform the community that Saint James was open to those who needed food and supplies.

Living north of Weaverville, her home's power and water were restored soon after Helene passed. That riddled her with guilt, “knowing that I have what I need, and others are still without running water, electricity.”

“I just felt like I had to do something to help others,” she continued from the section of the church that’s become the distribution center.

As a volunteer, she’s heard repeated stories from those dealing with the loss of loved ones and homes. She’s felt helpless to provide them assistance, acknowledging that recovery will take time.

“But there is strength,” she said, “in what we are able to do, providing food and water.”

There has been a collection of churches offering aid while first responders, charitable organizations and government agencies from around the U.S. and Canada have gathered here to assist with cleanup and recovery.

That makes Cason-Bond’s heart swell, she said.

“We all come together to help those in need, whether it's here or out of state or out of the country, they've been coming here to just, just help, and it feels good,” she said. “I just wish we could do even more.”

Over in Harrison’s neighborhood, residents are doing what they can for one another.

Teasing that her husband was worried about missing NFL games on Sunday, Harrison said she used the power outage to pass the time outside on her porch and connect with neighbors.

“We have great neighbors. We just be walking down, we talk to one another,” she said. “They've helped one another. Yes, if you need water, anything. We give.”

This story was updated to add a video.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Churchgoers, volunteers 'find hope, hold fast' to faith following Tropical Storm Helene