Helene teaches us what’s really important

As I write this, I’m waiting for my Dad at the doctor’s office. On Spectrum News, a story about a lady who lost her home in Hurricane Helene caught my attention. It resembled the neighborhood where our friends Mickey and Pam Shaw of Asheboro have a home. When the camera panned across the neighborhood sign, I knew it was.

It surprised me it was their neighborhood with so many neighborhoods and towns in desperation across Western North Carolina. I texted Pam so she could look for the story online, and she texted back that seven homes were lost in her small neighborhood in Lansing. … WHAT? I thought. Seven families’ homes! Your neighborhood is not large. That is a lot!

But there are thousands upon thousands of similar stories in WNC, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. The lady who lost her home in Lansing said as awful as her situation is, she’s learned she only lost stuff. She is safe, her family is safe, and that’s what matters the most. She said. “People are blessed, and they might not know it but if they have their family and a home over their head, they should be grateful.”

That statement is real, powerful and true but why do so many of us need to be reminded of it, including myself? I’d also add to her words to be grateful for our jobs, small businesses, friends, pets, churches, food, power, running water and our community as a whole, things we all take for granted until they are gone.

I worked on two teams for flood and hurricane relief with First Presbyterian Church of Asheboro. 

In 2016, in White Sulpher Springs, WV, our youth and adults arrived a few days after a historic 1,000-year flood had decimated the area. Our group hadn’t planned for flood relief, but the area needed so much help we went to lend a hand in any way we could. 

In 2018 in Patillas, Puerto Rico, we arrived six months after Hurricane Maria hit the small community on the southern coast, and the residents still didn’t have power. Patillas remained without electricity for almost a year after that storm.

A year without power is completely unimaginable, but those residents are the most resilient people I have ever met! I was there only a week, and when I arrived back home, I felt guilty. I could sit comfortably on my couch and watch TV. I also brushed my teeth with clean running water. I cried as I thought of them still using bottled water for such a simple everyday task.

I have stayed in touch with one of the families, and they texted me to make sure we were OK from Hurricane Helene. We are, I shared with them, but Western North Carolina was in very bad shape. I told them your family knows more than anyone else what a Hurricane can take away.

If you’re reading this, you should know this story was supposed to be a celebratory one. But it’s been very tough to celebrate when so many people just up the road are hurting.

Oct. 6-7 marked our first year of business at UpStyled Goods & Salon. I had planned to have a celebration but it just didn’t seem appropriate at this time.

I’ve had too many conversations with other business owners we know in Western North Carolina that have been affected by Helene. Two of them most likely won’t open their doors again. Another, who lost everything, has a Go Fund Me page as he starts over rebuilding his business. Two businesses have been able to go back to work, with one of them sharing their space with another small business nearby that doesn’t have a workspace anymore.

And that is what happens in the worst of times — we see and hear about the best in people. Most people want to help in any way they can, and every small gesture does. We can’t all be rescuers, but we can hold a canned food drive or donate clothes or collect supplies to help our Western neighbors that have lost so much.

This week we are offering early Trick or Treating for our customers in the store and salon to “celebrate” our first year. In order to trick or treat, we ask that you bring in canned food or other non-perishable food items to be given to people who really need it. We are also donating 10% of all sales this month to the Salvation Army because I have seen them firsthand at work helping others.

I remember helping a family clean out their home of their belongings in West Virginia. The family was still in shock as we carried out everything that had gotten flooded in their home, and it was mostly everything they owned. As I helped a mother clean out her kitchen, she told me the story of how the flood waters came so fast. The waters first started coming into the yard, and then up to her glass sliding door near the kitchen. She told her husband this looks bad. They gathered their three kids to take them to safety at their neighbor’s home. 

As she helped her husband get the kids out of the house, the water was already in her home. Her husband waded through rising waters to higher ground next door with each child. When he had them all to safety, he started back for his wife, as she was heading towards him. But the flood waters came so fast, she was swept off her feet. She was struggling to make sense of where she was, when she saw a tree. She reached out for it and was able to pull herself to it. She heard her husband yelling for her, as she clung to the tree for her life.

As her husband ran to get to her, the neighbors, where her children were watching, threw a rope to him. She clung to the tree, as her husband tied the rope around him. She was scared to let go, but her husband getting closer told her, “You have to.” He then grabbed her and carried her through the flood waters to safety.

I was speechless. She cried as she told me, “If it wasn’t for that tree and my husband, I don’t know what would have happened to me because the waters were coming so fast.” I didn’t know what to say to her, but I hugged her as she wiped away tears.

She then said the same words the lady from Lansing said. “All this stuff, it can be replaced, but we can’t. I’m just so thankful we’re all here and safe.”

Then she looked at me, and said “I’m thankful for people like you that have come from so many places to help us.” She was amazed we had driven from Asheboro, North Carolina to help, but we were just a tiny group compared to the amazing Samaritan’s Purse workers, local churches, emergency workers, the linemen and neighbors helping neighbors.

To this day, I can still hear the bull horn shouts from the Salvation Army workers. They went up and down the streets continuously throughout the day and evening asking, “Do you need help?” “Do you need a hot meal?” And when anyone waved their hands, they stopped, opened the van doors, and passed out hot meals to them. It was a beautiful sight.

I cannot imagine losing everything — my home, my business, my job, a family member or friend, a neighbor, let alone the town you call home. We’ve never seen the kind of destruction Helene caused in our lifetime, and it is hard to comprehend. But doing simple things to help people provides hope … And the person who receives food donations or a hot meal from a Salvation Army worker will be eternally grateful for the simple acts of kindness.