By Half a year after Hurricane Helene devastated the western region of North Carolina, the resilient village of Chimney Rock is emerging from the wreckage. Once among the areas most severely impacted by the storm, this small mountain town is steadily regaining its character—driven by the dedication of one group in particular, and it’s not the government.
“When we look around, we still see tremendous damage and realize it will take a long time to build back,” Mayor Peter O’Leary recently told WCNC. “But at the same time, we have made tremendous progress, and that is very encouraging.”
That progress is largely due to the efforts of over 2,000 volunteers—many of whom have traveled from outside North Carolina—who have contributed countless hours and essential resources. Among the most influential are members of the Great Needs Trust, an Amish-led organization from Pennsylvania that has provided unwavering support in both Chimney Rock and nearby Bat Cave.
“We come out here every morning, working mostly in Chimney Rock and in Bat Cave,” Amos Stoltzfus, a volunteer with an Amish community from Pennsylvania called Great Needs Trust, said.
“We wanted to help the people with the disaster,” Amanda Zook, another volunteer from the group, shared. “Our hearts just felt drawn to come help the people in this area.”
Great Needs Trust volunteers have been instrumental in the rebuilding efforts, offering both skilled labor and their compassion.
“This is a multiyear process,” O’Leary said. “It is a huge job that is going to take a lot of input, a lot of resources, a lot of efforts by a lot of people. All of the building material going into these stores has been donated up to this point, and it has just been a tremendous recovery story that is ongoing.”
The volunteers are not just restoring buildings, they’re also restoring a sense of community.
“We have been cleaning the campground, also insulating a new building and organizing donated products, paper supplies and dry walling,” Sylvia Stoltzfus outlined.
From insulating homes and restoring public spaces to installing drywall and distributing supplies, the Great Needs Trust team has tackled a wide array of recovery projects. Volunteer Sylvia Stoltzfus described how they’ve managed incoming donations and equipped damaged buildings with much-needed materials—all of which, Mayor O’Leary noted, were provided at no cost.
Yet the recovery extends beyond physical infrastructure. Volunteers have played a crucial role in restoring a sense of unity in a town where every local business suffered damage. For many volunteers, the mission has become profoundly personal.
The victims of Hurricane Helene may have paid the most for Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. The New York Post reported shortly after the storm hit that “the death toll from catastrophic flooding in the Asheville area of western North Carolina more than tripled on Monday to 35 — as survivors in remote mountain towns described seeing the bodies of victims stuck in trees.
Nationwide, there have been 120 fatalities from Hurricane Helene, which has cut a path of death and destruction across the Southeast since making landfall last Thursday.
The rains smashed the mountains of Buncombe County, which contains Asheville, washing away whole communities in floodwaters and mudslides. Roadways were buried or washed away, leaving victims cut off from rescue crews.”
While those in North Carolina and Florida struggled to survive, Joe Biden was relaxing at his beach home, and FEMA was ignoring pleas for help from those who had Trump signs in their yards. Despite the way they were treated, Chimney Rock is slowly writing a new chapter—one of perseverance, compassion, and hope. Thanks to the unwavering commitment of its volunteer community, this mountain town is proving that with shared purpose, recovery is not only possible—it’s already underway.
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