Crossroads -- Southern Highlands folks still need help

Most of the national reporters are gone, but the locals and volunteers carry on

Let’s start here: The people of Pensacola, North Carolina, are truly grateful for the waves of supplies, clothing, food and even Christmas gifts they have received from religious organizations, nonprofits, civic groups and businesses both large and small.

They are especially thankful for the many volunteers and skilled workers who put skin in the game and showed up in person — some staying for days or weeks — to help small-town people high in the Blue Ridge Mountains start the long process of rebuilding their lives.

Yes, there have been some strange moments in it all. For example, the locals really didn’t need people to send used bathing suits and prom dresses. Hold that thought.

Pensacola is a tiny community in the Cane River Valley, about 10 miles from Burnsville — the county seat of Yancey County, which contains Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. The story of Pensacola is personal, for me, since I have three decades of ties there with family, friends and neighbors.

During this week’s “Crossroads” podcast, host Todd Wilkin and I discussed the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and the painful realities of this huge news story that continue to affect the survivors, even though the national news coverage faded after the political angles cooled down. We also talked about my syndicated “On Religion” from last week: “God, man and Christmas in the Cane River Valley.” Here is a bite of that column that is linked to the photo at the top of this post:

Most of the Laurel Branch Baptist Church survived, in part because a bus-sized RV was swept in front of the sanctuary, which diverted some of the raging floodwaters. …

While conditions are improving, many face Christmas in badly damaged houses, loaned mobile homes or worse. It's hard to put a Christmas tree inside a tent. And what happens if early snows and winds take out the patched-up power lines?

“We’ve got people giving us Christmas on top of Christmas on top of Christmas. That's not the issue. We appreciate the generosity, but we have problems that are bigger than presents under a tree,” said the Rev. Bradley Boone, pastor of Concord Baptist Church in nearby Burnsville.

The column was built on some sobering observations from Boone, who — in addition to being a pastor and a veteran volunteer firefighter — is someone with seven generations of ties to this valley. He is, you see, part of the seventh generation of a rather symbolic local family tree that is topped by none other than Daniel Boone, descending from the legendary frontiersman’s brother, Israel.

It goes without saying that Boone has been a leader in local rescue and relief efforts. Also, his family’s home was hit by one of the 2,000 landslides in North Carolina.

In the podcast, we talked about a sobering and, at times, humorous memo that Boone posted recently on his Facebook page, in which he offered advice to people who want to take part in disaster relief projects that truly make a difference. Here the top of that (I did a bit of re-formatting):

… Over the years our Church has done several “disaster relief missions” to various places and I honestly thought I had a pretty good grasp on how to do it. Having now lived in a disaster area for the last few months I have become much more enlightened on the proper way to do it and would like to offer to you what I have learned.

Water — Unless you can bring a load of drinking water to a disaster area in the first couple of weeks after the disaster don’t bother. By the third week of this event we had enough water to recreate the flood and enough diapers to soak it back up.

Used clothing — Sending used clothing to a disaster area should never be a consideration. Remember these people still want to retain their dignity. We unloaded many bags of stained worn out clothing and even some bathing suits and a few prom dresses. All this manages to do is overwhelm the volunteers on the ground and overload the supply sites with articles that will later have to be hauled off.

Boone stressed that it was crucial that some people donated generators and supplies for those generators, since people in the truly remote corners of the mountains lived without power for weeks. Even now, the replacement power lines — urgently constructed in rugged terrain — are very fragile.

In terms of technology, it was crucial that outsiders (yes, Elon Musk helped) donated Starlink dishes that allowed tiny towns like Pensacola communicate with the outside world. This was a life-and-death issue for people with no roads and no telephone lines in a region where cellphone service is at times theoretical.

Right now, it truly helps when people donate money to help pay for the most basic of materials that volunteers need to repair and build homes. That includes money to rent backhoes, tractors and other essential equipment that people need to rebuild private roads, private bridges and in efforts to put creeks and rivers back where they belong.

But here is what I consider the Big Idea of the Boone memo:

Supporting an organization financially — If in doubt about what to send find an organization that is already on the ground and has a proven track record and give financial gifts to them. I would highly recommend Samaritan’s Purse as they have been well organized and an absolute blessing to our community but there are other organizations worthy of your support. Just make sure you research them before giving.

Volunteers — If you are going to send people to help it’s best to partner with a group on the ground already working. This avoids duplication of effort and spending valuable time looking for something to do. …

We have been blessed in WNC with an outpouring of support from across the country and this has been essential! But remember that the local people on the ground know best about the current needs that quickly change.

Enjoy the podcast and, please, pass it along to others.

FIRST IMAGE: From the Facebook page of the Rev. Bradley Boone.