Long-Term Recovery

During Helene the Swannanoa and Ivy Rivers near Barnardsville rose to unprecedented heights, washing away homes and livelihoods. 490 water rescues were necessary to preserve lives around the county. Buncombe lost 372 homes entirely, while 734 incurred significant damage, and another 11,133 requiring repairs to become habitable again. 

United Way staff began mobilizing volunteers. Even without running water or electricity, droves of people stopped at their office to volunteer. Officials within local government recruited the United Way team to take on  a critical task: standing up and operating a new 41,000 square foot supply warehouse to accept and distribute donations of goods pouring into the county.

Aisha Shepherd, VP of Community Engagement, visited community partner organizations to determine how best to support their efforts or enlist their help. Here, she is dropping off direct assistance funds to a grassroots organization. To date, more than $2 million in direct assistance funds have been distributed by United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County.

Among the volunteers was Bill Miller, a realtor with Allen Tate Beverly Hanks for 40 years. When the call was made for a forklift driver, Bill volunteered. He worked 8 to 9 hours a day, moving all the donations that came in. "I talked to two guys who drove all the way up here from New Orleans yesterday with a truckload," Bill recalls, "and they turned around and went back to get more. Beverly Hanks has always been a major player with Untied Way in this town, and it's just a part of our life."

United Way is positioned well to take advantage of federal programs like AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps. These service members are deployed across the country during disaster and provide invaluable assistance to exhausted grassroots leaders on the front lines of response efforts. In total, these service members contributed 4,875 hours of service. 

Charles stayed as long as he could that night, trying to protect what little he could, but when the water started to rise into the house, he fled to the only safe place, up the mountain from his home. Two hours passed before he was able to walk down the mountain. 

When a long-time donor reached out to United Way to say they had a mobile home to offer someone, Charles and his wife Sadey were the first to be nominated by their community.

The Christine Avery Learning Center, the county's only infant-serving early childhood center, suffered sever flood damage-losing all furniture, toys, flooring, electrical components and walls. Staff couldn't access the site for days, and once they did, the destruction was overwhelming. Due to strict state standards tied to it's 4-star accreditation, secondhand replacements weren't an option. United Way funding enable the purchase of all-new, compliant furniture for children from infancy to age five. By February 2025, the Swannanoa site was fully operational again.