Video by Sophia Pedroso
Piles and piles of indistinguishable debris line the streets. A mailbox with stuffed animals. The devastation that was left in Helene’s path remains clear nearly two months later.
[KELLY SPENCER MOORE (Professor): “Communities are forever altered as a result”]
At the dining hall of Mars Hill University, psychology Professor and art therapy program coordinator Kelly Spencer Moore, has created a space for the community to come together.
[KELLY SPENCER MOORE (Professor): “We decided to create a community quilt so that students, faculty, and it’s been open to community members as well, could have a place to kind of process and also to see it as a vision of hope really.”]
Local quilters came together with students to teach them to create the large quilt in a project titled “community rewoven”. Individuals create a square that will be patched together to create one, large quilt.
[KELLY SPENCER MOORE (Professor): “And this is our home, this is our community, these are our neighbors, this is where we live, we identify as a part of Western North Carolina.]
This is just one example of one of the many ways we’re seeing North Carolinians trying to bring hope across the western part of the state.
[STANDUP: “As soon as you come off exit 59 of interstate 40, there is a Harley Davidson that has been temporarily transformed into something more.”]
[KEVIN HILL (Special Ops): “What we’re doing here? We are bringing hope to people who need it.”]
That Harley Davidson has become the temporary home to Savage Freedoms. The group is made up of mostly veterans.
[KEVIN HILL (Special Ops): “Time doesn’t really exist here. It’s kind of a weird little nexus of just getting things done.”]
Through ground and air, Savage Freedoms brought supplies and provided rescues for individuals in the Black Mountains region.
[KEVIN HILL (Special Ops): “We got just a massive influx of support from all over the place. At one point we had eight or nine helicopters on the ground.”]
Now, months after Helene decimated the area, Savage Freedoms has expanded from recovery and rescue into rebuilding efforts.
[KEVIN HILL (Special Ops): “We’re doing more of the sustainment, rebuild, long-term focus. And that includes temporary housing. It includes actual permanent structures, permitted and zoned correctly.”]
The work of Savage Freedoms has become a whole lot more than rescue missions and providing resources.
[KEVIN HILL (Special Ops): “It’s not, here’s a heater, here’s a temporary place to live. It’s, here’s some hope back right in the midst of this situation that can be very ominous.”]
Very ominous when surrounded by destruction like these constant reminders of what was lost and the challenges ahead, as communities look to rebuild. Not just the homes, but also a sense of hope for the future of Western North Carolina. I’m Sophia Pedroso reporting.
