Hurricane Helene Response

Dear Friend,

Seven months have passed since Hurricane Helene made landfall and left a long trail of destruction in six states. Convoy of Hope is still there, helping communities rebuild and ensuring people have their needs met.

Here is a story from the field. 

In Black Mountain, North Carolina, Robert Ellis lived in a house with one of his sons, making his home in the walkout basement. When Helene swept through the town, the basement filled with six feet of water, and Robert had to be urgently evacuated. 

Robert and his son were displaced to a hotel room in South Carolina. Without homeowners insurance, their situation seemed hopeless. Robert — elderly and struggling with significant health issues — had a hard time adjusting to life in a hotel. 

After Convoy of Hope heard their story, we gathered 60 volunteers to fully gut the home’s waterlogged basement. The team worked hard to remove damaged drywall, furniture, cabinets, and carpet and the two feet of mud that had settled there. 

On the day the volunteers came to work, Robert and his two sons were present. Robert shook hands with a Convoy team member and said, with tears in his eyes, “There’s something different about you, and I’m grateful.”

By the end of the day, Convoy’s volunteers had cleared out the entire basement down to the concrete floors and wood frames. But we didn’t stop there. 

Before Robert could live in his home again, the basement needed to be repaired. Convoy partnered with Lowe’s and the Fuller Center to provide the building materials so that a team of volunteers could finish the basement for the Ellis family. Now Robert is in the process of moving back home, where he is much more comfortable. 

Our work is far from over. Convoy is aiming to provide 80,000 bags of groceries in areas affected by Helene to children in the local school systems who are normally part of the school's lunch program for families in need.