BETHEL — At Bethel Baptist Church, one of the rooms downstairs has become a mini convenience store. The lower parking lot has become a landing zone for helicopters and a place to take a hot shower. An area on the top floor became a FEMA office to help people apply for disaster relief. Above all, it has become a place for the community after the devastation Hurricane Helene left in the High Country.
On Sunday morning, the church held its first service after the storm.
“I’ve been to this church now, I would guess, for almost 30 years. (It was) probably the best service I’ve ever attended,” said worship leader Carter Dishman. “The spirit was strong. Part of it was a relief from the day-to-day of what we’re in the middle of right now. The only way I knew how to put it this morning was, ‘Today we didn’t come to church. Today, we were the church.”
With many in the community in need in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Bethel Baptist Church has become a place where they can get food and hygiene items, as well as hot meals, showers, and ADA bathrooms.
In the first few days, the church and Beaver Dam Volunteer Fire Department worked together to create a community plan. At the time, both the fire department and church were collecting donations. However, with the outpouring of volunteer support, they decided to take donations at the church so the fire department could focus on emergencies.
There wasn’t a free space in the room where donations were gathered, as supplies — from snacks to diapers — were piled high for those in need.
The showers have especially been good for community members. While it can’t fix a house or driveway, Dishman said just taking a hot shower can help with a little bit of “mental stability.”
“At least if nothing else, they smell better, and they feel better,” Dishman said.
The church hasn’t just been a place for those in need to pick up much-needed supplies. It’s also been a place where volunteers can gather to help other community members recover from the storm.
Dishman has coordinated the volunteers as they go into the community and help those who need some repairs or access to their homes or out of their homes. For the last four days or so, their focus has been getting everybody out.
“We’ve gotten now to the point where most people are out, and they’re trying to repair driveways and that kind of stuff,” Dishman said.
As volunteer and church member Matt Marton said, once the sun started to come out from behind the clouds, it sounded “like a hornet’s nest” up and down the road.
“The fact that we were able to open up roads ourselves before anybody could even get out here. Made a huge difference,” Marton said. “I mean, by Saturday morning, we were able to take any supplies that we had and what was coming in and drive it to people. Even if they couldn’t get out of their house or across their bridge, we could walk them into them because the main road was opened up. It’s just awesome to see how fast people out here came together, worked together, and cared for one another.”
Dishman said there have been countless people who have helped in the community and that there’s “not enough time” in the day to list them all. He did mention
Dishman made a point to mention Ground Effects Landscaping — among many — who have been absolute heroes in helping people start the recovery process.
He said National Guard soldiers stationed at the church helping with supply drops and manning the showers and bathrooms have become close with everyone. When not needing to help at the bathrooms or showers, the soldiers — six in total — could be seen playing catch with children in the field outside the church or singing during the worship service.
With the community coming together like it has in the aftermath of Helene, Dishman knows they have a new family.
“We’ve got a new family through this. I think the church family and the community family has definitely grown in numbers and in spirit this week,” Dishman said. “I’ve got names and numbers of people that I want to be, I think, long life friends with after this.”
Dishman and Marton know there will be a new normal in their community and across Watauga County and western North Carolina. They know that roads that were completely destroyed won’t be repaired overnight. They know that — as Dishman put it — “a lesson in patience has been learned throughout all this.”
“I’ve seen more good than I’ve seen bad,” Dishman said. “That’s a testament to the community.”
Marton said he doesn’t have any expectations on the community getting fixed. He just wants people to be able to get out and that services be able to get to them in an emergency. He also does not want it to go completely back to normal.
“I don’t know if I want to go completely back to normal right away because watching this community get so close together, whether you’re part of the church or not, this community has grown so close together that I don’t want to see it go back,” Marton said.
He said he knows that, as a community, they are better than big cities in terms of closeness, but even then, he met people he hadn’t met before. He doesn’t want to go back to where the community was splintered in some ways.
“The mountain people are sticking together,” said Charlene Capps, a community member utilizing the showers. “Everybody’s pulling together. Everybody’s helping everybody.”
Bethel Baptist Church is located at 125 Mountaindale Rd. They have hot food available for lunch and dinner as well as ADA showers and toilets daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“Our community took care of each other before, but now it’s like on steroids,” Dishman said.
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