CHARLOTTE (OSV News) -- Late Sept. 27 night, as the first photos and cries for help emerged after Tropical Storm Helene ripped through the North Carolina mountains, Father John Putnam texted his staff at St. Mark Church, in Huntersville:
"There's a great need for supplies for diapers, canned goods and water in the mountains. We have folks that can deliver on Sunday. Can we get a blast out?"
By dawn on Saturday, Sept. 28, parishioners and neighbors who had seen the social media blast began dropping off supplies. By afternoon, St. Mark had delivered its first truckload to the Statesville airport for transport to remote mountain regions. Remaining supplies went into a truck for church volunteers to drive 150 miles to Waynesville, home of St. John the Evangelist Parish.
In Concord, Dan Ward was on his way to Mass on Sunday morning when he fully understood how devastating Helene had been. As the properties and risk manager for the Diocese of Charlotte, Ward had the principal of Immaculata School on the phone describing the scene around her after record rainfall in Hendersonville.
"There is damage everywhere. Trees are down. Houses and roads are washed away. There is no power -- and no water," Principal Margaret Beale told him.
"It wasn't just what she said -- it was how she said it," Ward recalled.
He skipped Mass and called his bosses.
Over the next few hours, Beale's hint of desperation and the trickle of news from the mountains -- of people being swept down rivers, of homes washing away, of trees trapping people in neighborhoods with no way in or out -- unleashed what would become an unprecedented outpouring of support from across the diocese "to get people what they need -- now."
That's how Monsignor Patrick Winslow, the diocese's vicar general and chancellor, described what he and Charlotte Bishop Michael T. Martin wanted to see in response to the storm. From the diocese's central administration. From priests and parishioners. From Catholic Charities, and schools and ministries. Everybody who could help, should help.
"For those of you who are suffering so much from this natural disaster, especially those who have lost loved ones, please know you are not alone! Motivated by the image of Christ Crucified, we stand with you, we love you, and we are lifting you up in constant prayer," Bishop Martin wrote Oct. 2 in an email to the faithful. "The good people of our diocese are also pitching in to get you the help you need, now and over the long haul."
In a similar message to priests, he noted their pastoral mission in addition to supply drives and fundraising: "It is at times such as these that we are called as shepherds to lead our communities. We may not be able to provide for every need presented to us in this moment, but we can accompany -- walk with all those who are struggling … While water and power may now be scarce, God's love and our ability to make that love real are in abundance."
Helene crashed ashore in Florida late in the evening of Sept. 26 as a Category 4 Hurricane, churning through six states and killing more than 190 people, according to media reports as of Oct. 3 -- including more than 96 in North Carolina -- as it became a tropical storm, making it one of the deadliest storms in the U.S.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper called it "one of the worst storms in modern history for parts of North Carolina."
More than half of the Diocese of Charlotte's 46 counties have been declared federal disaster areas, a territory that includes 44 of the diocese's 92 churches. While church buildings sustained only minor damage, the people and communities they serve are devastated. The diocese and its Catholic Charities agency have transformed many of its churches and schools into relief centers -- either collecting supplies for dispatch to western North Carolina or, in ravaged areas, serving as distribution points for weary residents, who are hungry and thirsty and cut off from the outside world.
"The best cell phone signal anywhere is right here on the property of St. Margaret Mary -- but that's how God works," said Claudia Graham, the church's assistant who is leading relief efforts as the parish awaits the appointment of a new pastor.
Never mind that the beautiful old oak tree out front had fallen onto the roof of the 88-year-old church and remained there. Graham opened the church anyway and, thanks to an Oct. 1 delivery from the diocese, she was able to hand out supplies the next day -- giving away food and water and diapers and baby formula to the people of Swannanoa, one of the communities hardest hit by the storm.
Swannanoa is the distribution point for one of three supply routes the diocese and Catholic Charities established right away. Waynesville is another receiving station -- where supplies are divided between St. John the Evangelist Church and a 1950s diner called Jukebox Junction. In Hendersonville, Immaculata School was the first supply site to open, on Sunday, just hours after principal Beale made that fateful call.
As of Oct. 2, 14 truckloads of supplies had been delivered to the diocese's drop locations, including two filled by parishioners of St. Matthew and two by parishioners of St. Gabriel.
Another nine trailer, truck, van and carloads went to Waynesville from St. Mark and Charlotte's St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Mark sent two loads to airlift operations. All three of the diocese's high schools got into the act, enlisting families and serving as supply drop sites.
Catholic Charities launched an online donation site (www.ccdoc.org/helenerelief), which, as of Oct. 3, had raised more than $650,000 from about 2,400 donors across 47 states.
"While we'll be there handing out water and providing food…our real impact is on the longer-term restoration of lives," said Gerry Carter, executive director and CEO of Catholic Charities.
"It's important to remember that when you've lost everything, it can frequently take months, if not years, to be restored," he said. "In addition to immediate financial assistance and the distribution of food, diapers and other essentials, we'll also be there offering case management services to help rebuild and restore lives."
In Swannanoa, Graham was rebuilding lives hour by hour, juggling tasks she'd never imagined. She provided food and comfort to a woman who had been plucked from raging floodwaters a few days earlier. She coordinated dispatch for a crew of parishioners with chainsaws to cut away fallen trees that trapped people in their homes. She also managed to get a visiting priest approved to respond to requests she was receiving for an anointing of the sick.
"There are helicopters flying low, seeking people who are homebound and hopefully we won't have too many that are trapped inside," she said. "We're doing everything we can. I'm even letting people use our dumpster at the church. It's filling up and it's not totally bear-proof, but I am hoping the trash service will start again soon."
The drive from Charlotte to Waynesville, which normally takes about three hours, took five for relief teams to reach St. John and Jukebox Junction in the initial days.
The diner, owned by St. John the Evangelist parishioner Mike Graham, lost power but managed to cook up -- then gave away -- all of its food. It has remained open as a drop zone for supplies from the diocese and others. A steady flow of people living in surrounding Canton, Cruso and Waynesville came around for supplies -- greeted by parishioners from St. John and others who are helping with distribution.
Father Paul McNulty, the Waynesville church's pastor, has spent his days checking on parishioners and other community members, ferrying supplies, and bringing prayers and sacraments to those in need. His church overlooks the historic Frog Level business district of Waynesville, which during the storm stood under six feet of muddy water.
Among parishioners helping out are Father Aaron Huber's parents, who live in Cruso, and on Sunday, Sept. 29, climbed to the top of Cold Mountain to secure cell service to call their son, who is based at St. Mark and serves as chaplain of Christ the King High School in Huntersville.
"It was a huge relief to hear from them," Huber said, "and they told me how hard they'd been hit in that area -- so St. Mark made those communities their mission to serve."
On Wednesday, Oct. 2, Catholic faithful left Wilmington at 4 a.m. for Waynesville, where 12 hours later they had established Starlink satellite service at St. John the Evangelist, bringing internet service to people desperate to reach out to loved ones for the first time in a week.
In Asheville, determined also to serve people's spiritual needs, St. Eugene Church kept Masses going immediately after the storm, even without power. Just two couples made it on Saturday evening, a Mass lit by candlelight and the waning sun. The group prayed for those affected by the disaster, and family and friends who were ill. Mike and Eileen Crowe attended: "It was a nice little oasis to take your mind off things…", Mike Crowe said, "very intimate."
On Wednesday, Oct. 2, the diocese's relief efforts intensified in Asheville. That Monday, Mike Miller, the former principal of Asheville Catholic School, had reported that conditions remained dire across the city. Basic necessities remained in short supply.
"Water is the biggest problem right now," Miller said. "Unless someone has a well that wasn't over-washed with flood waters, people don't have clean water or water service. If anyone is donating, water is crucial."
Across the diocese, parishes were jumping in to assist.
In Concord, St. James the Greater Parish organized a supply drive through the Concord airport as part of Operation Airdrop, a Texas-based nonprofit founded in 2017 in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. In Greensboro, St. Paul the Apostle and St. Pius X also coordinated and collected supplies.
And although classes have been canceled this week due to flooding damage, Hendersonville's Immaculata School has remained a hub at ground zero.
Principal Beale wept when she learned the first supplies would reach her on Sunday, the same day she'd issued her call of distress. On Monday morning, after a long traumatizing weekend, dozens of people waited in the parking lot for the distribution of supplies to begin.
"Friday was a tough day," she said, "and it's really frustrating for a school that has gained so much momentum. But then you get on the other side of the storm and you see how horrific the damage is, you realize you are blessed. There isn't anything that's happened at our parish or school that can't be repaired. We are such a strong community that we'll come back from this."
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