Two years ago, the water and wind came.
It poured down mountainsides in North Carolina and blew across the Upstate and Central Savannah River Area of South Carolina, taking hundreds of miles of road with it. It flattened homes, knocked out power for weeks, and compromised water systems. It collapsed infrastructure and cut off whole communities from the help they desperately needed.
For The Salvation Army, responding to Helene meant serving communities it already knew, from Asheville and Aiken to Boone, Hendersonville, Hickory, and Spartanburg. In some places, the Army’s service stretches back more than a century. When the storm was over, we were there and ready to help.
In the days after the storm, The Salvation Army provided meals, comfort, and care. In South Carolina, The Salvation Army served nearly 24,000 meals and offered emotional and spiritual care to 750 people. In North Carolina, the Army served more than 107,500 meals, and more than 10,800 people received emotional and spiritual care.
By November 2024, the response had expanded into short-term recovery across ten service areas, helping 1,862 households in North Carolina and 725 in South Carolina with gift cards, rent and utility assistance, and Thrift Store vouchers.
But for many families, recovery continues even though the initial response ended. Survivors are still facing damaged homes, lost belongings, interrupted work, insurance gaps, and costs they could not cover alone.
That is where The Salvation Army’s long-term recovery work has stepped in to help. Alongside local recovery groups, disaster case managers, and volunteer organizations, The Salvation Army has helped fund repairs, appliances, temporary housing, and other essential needs when other resources run out. The generosity of our donors has made this help possible.
“The storm may be over, but the impacts are not,” said Mike Patterson, The Salvation Army’s emergency disaster services director for the Carolinas. “Long-term recovery helps restore what disasters destroy. It restores structures, but more importantly, lives.”
In July 2025, The Salvation Army hired two Hurricane Helene long-term recovery coordinators: Dr. Valerie Boyd, who serves South Carolina, and Alan Gregory, who serves North Carolina. Valerie and Alan work with disaster case managers, local long-term recovery groups, and partners — listening for the unmet needs of Helene survivors — and helping connect families with the support they need. Long-term recovery work is quieter than the first days after disaster, but it is where lasting recovery takes shape, around tables where agencies, churches, nonprofits, and community leaders work together to help families rebuild.
“At every meeting, we ask the same question,” said Alan. “What is standing between this family and home, and how can we help?”
Sometimes that help is a roof, a septic system, a well, appliances, or rent. Whatever the need, it helps close the gap between a family and a home.
“We do this work to help restore what was lost in the storm,” Valerie added. “We are here for the long haul, helping families who need us today.”
Across both states, the work has varied from family to family, but the goal is the same: helping neighbors move toward safety, stability, and home.
For the Ariola family, a destroyed septic system had stalled repairs for nearly a year, keeping them from moving back into their home. The Salvation Army purchased the new septic system needed to move the work forward. “We can actually live in our home again!” said Madeline Ariola. While the house was being repaired, The Salvation Army funded temporary housing, keeping the family together.
For the Lindsay family, it helped fund the restoration of their five-generation home. “God sent a group of people to restore this house,” Johnny Lindsay said.
For veteran Frank Farr and his wife, Cindy, The Salvation Army purchased a travel trailer for them to live in while their home was being rebuilt. Once the home was finished, The Salvation Army helped furnish a new washer, dryer, and microwave.
In North Carolina, a Henderson County woman who lost her rental home, job, and belongings found new work but could not cover the deposit for a new place. The Salvation Army covered her rent and deposit, helping her regain a stable address and a place to begin again.
Together, these stories point to a larger truth: a disaster of Helene’s magnitude is measured in years. Long after immediate needs are met, families are still rebuilding, and The Salvation Army is working with partners to help them recover.
None of this happens without partnership. Disaster case managers, county long-term recovery groups, voluntary organizations & agencies with their teams, other community partners, and our donors continue to help restore homes and hope.
“This is what we do,” said Alan Gregory. “We show up. We stay. We walk alongside people through the hardest seasons of their lives. That’s our calling.”
Two years later, Helene is more than a marker of time passed. It reminds us what endures: community, compassion, hope, and the people committed to helping communities grow strong again.
The Salvation Army will keep serving here, as we always have, for as long as recovery takes.
