Hope and humanity in the aftermath of Helene

By Sherry Larson

People’s Defender

Hurricane Helene, the raging tempest, damaged and destroyed many areas in the Southeast United States over a week ago. According to the National Weather Service, Western North Carolina, particularly Buncombe County, including Asheville, were hit the worst.

While the rains and winds were fierce in parts of Adams County, many of us were glued to our devices. We were united in our concern for the devastation in the states hardest hit by the storm and praying for people to be found safe and relief to come.

Blake Larson and Colleen Crawford, owners of Flock Dining, were at work but were receiving texts and updates about friends from their former home in Asheville. Many of the same individuals who visited Adams County a month ago to celebrate with the ladies were now unreachable. By Sunday, most of their friends were accounted for, but all were affected by Helene. All were without electricity, many homes flooded, and some businesses were lost. Larson said, “Every day I think of someone else, I need to reach out to them and be sure they’re okay.”

Crawford, a ten-year resident of Asheville, has many close connections in the area—most experienced damages and loss. Montreat College in neighboring Black Mountain, where Larson attended her first year, was catastrophically damaged. After graduating from culinary school in Ontario, Canada, she returned and made Asheville her home. She’s been busy reaching out to friends and former staff.

“Devastating isn’t a strong enough word for how it feels to hear the stories from our North Carolina community. The images are gut-wrenching, and we are discovering that it is far worse than the media portrays,” explained Crawford.

Crawford and Larson knew they would do something to help the efforts in Asheville. It didn’t take long to decide that selling the bread that had become their business staple would be a great way to feed others and contribute to helping Asheville and surrounding communities. Posting the sale of Flock’s Famous Focaccia bread and newly introduced Flock Tarts by Sous Chef Lindsey Parker, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Asheville efforts, the ladies were overwhelmed with the generous support of Adams Countians and the nearby areas.

Over a hundred shares of the Flock post caused WKRC Local 12 to take notice and interview Larson and Crawford on Monday afternoon. Bread orders and donations steadily came in, totaling over $6000 by Thursday afternoon. Flock is up for the challenge and is committed to fulfilling orders in the early mornings this week.

Mindy Buda and her sister Heather Meyer spearheaded similar efforts on Monday when they decided to go to Asheville with supplies to help the recovery process. Monday evening, Buda’s son Sawyer asked if he could run a lemonade stand on Tuesday to help raise money. Starting at 11:30 a.m., hoping to raise $100, the Buda children wrapped up at 2 p.m. with $580. WLWT News 5 was there to record the effort.

The Budas are no strangers to Adams Countians’ kindness and generosity, but Mindy was shocked by the outpouring of gifts and donations when they announced their trip to Asheville. She said, “It snowballed, and I can’t believe it,” explaining that they purchased over $7000.00 of supplies for the trip on top of the donations.

Mindy, her son Tason, her sister Heather, and about 12 others traveled Thursday night. Tonya Kersey donated a 15-passenger van for Buda to drive; others joined the caravan with supplies and tools. They worked Friday and Saturday and planned to return on Saturday night or Sunday. Buda said folks pulled up alongside her home and handed money out of their car windows. “It’s amazing! I cannot believe how people have shown up,” she said.

Shawn Palmer, owner of S&G Pizza in Manchester, recognized that others had helped when flooding affected him and wanted to offer assistance. He posted a water collection drop-off point at his restaurant on Wednesday afternoon and, by Thursday afternoon, had approximately 75,000 bottles of water. Fannin Trucking will pick up the water at 7 a.m. on Friday and transport it to the Asheville area.

At the time of writing this article, over 200 individuals have died across six states as a result of Hurricane Helene, and more than half of those individuals are from North Carolina. Hundreds of individuals are still missing. Once Buda arrived in North Carolina, she highlighted the loss and devastation via Facebook.

Adams Countians continue to show up with love, compassion, and generosity for those suffering in the aftermath of Helene. Adams is a community that looks beyond its backyard and extends its hand and heart for the greater good. As Crawford said, “To see a community of people who have known us for a year and have never met the Western North Carolina residents come together to help raise funds to assist them in this transition is the display of hope and humanity that our world needs right now.”