When disaster struck, Boone's Hunger and Health Coalition pivoted to deliveries

Helene’s widespread damage in the High Country has prompted a new way of doing things for a Boone-based emergency assistance organization. Last week, WFDD’s Paul Garber traveled with a Hunger and Health Coalition van as it went into rural communities to help meet the needs of an Appalachian region in crisis.

The vans leave from the Hunger and Health lot off of Bamboo Road. This nonprofit started small over 40 years ago but now has a staff of more than 20 — including two dietitians and a pharmacist — providing medicines and healthy food to people across the region.

Executive Director Jamie Rye says the flooding changed the way the organization provides for people. Instead of bringing folks into Boone, they’re delivering their goods to hard-hit rural areas.

“We have relationships on the ground in all these communities," he says. "And we knew that this was our role to fill.”

The organization’s building was spared damage from the flood, but Rye says waters from the South Fork of the New River ruined equipment used to split wood for people in need.

"We have clients that come in for a load of firewood every month," he says. "A lot of elderly people, people who are living off the grid. A lot of people in Appalachia still heat with firewood. That is something heading into winter that’s going to be a huge need." 

On Friday, Cove Creek was the first stop for the Hunger and Health van. In this community volunteers with the Mountaineer Ruritan Club are busy collecting supplies for distribution. Among the things that Hunger and Health has brought are EpiPens, which deliver a potentially life-saving dose of anti-allergen. 

Helene’s floods wiped out the homes of many ground-dwelling yellow jackets, and they’ve been swarming across the region all week. Volunteer Kelli Sherwood says they’re glad to see the arrival of the self-injectible medicine.

“I did hear a lineman that was in need of an EpiPen due to being stung with them [and] having allergies,” she says.

The Cove Creek outpost is serving a wide swath of the surrounding area including Vilas and Sugar Grove.

The Hunger and Health van still has a long day ahead and the next stop for Rye and his delivery crew is the Watauga County community of Bethel. The area is a study in contrasts. The mountains are rolling in shades of green tinted with the first colors of fall. But Carol Dishman, who’s volunteering at a relief center at Bethel Baptist Church, says the pristine view belies the damage in the valleys and hollows below.

“One place I know about that we went to yesterday, three bridges are out," she says. "Another lady had a mudslide where it washed her barn away. The valley right here had lots of water. But it has receded. Which we’re thankful for because it’s very depressing to see some of the obvious destruction that has happened.”

Dishman is particularly grateful for the delivery of bananas and oranges that the organization has brought. She says some residents haven't had fresh fruit since Helene hit.

The final stop for the Hunger and Health crew is Trade, the easternmost community in Tennessee, just across the border from Watauga County. With access to other areas cut off, locals here took relief efforts into their own hands.

“This is my business location. It’s an indoor skate park that also happens to be a very large warehouse,” says Ashley Gallaher, a Trade resident whose lot on U.S. 421 is now filled with people seeking food, water and baby supplies. On Friday it’s packed with folks needing assistance, and an on-site food truck has a long line.

"That first Saturday, Sunday was like chaos, chaos," she says. "And now we went from one table out by the road to what you see here. And we’ve become a rural distribution site.” 

Gallaher says she doesn’t know how long her rink, called ZRC Skates, will be needed as a distribution site, but she’s preparing to serve her community for months if needed.

“This is going to be a very, very long road, and we’re here for it, as long as it takes,” she says.

Rye, the Hunger and Health director, agrees. He knows they’ll be putting many more miles on the van because the need is not going away anytime soon. Tucked-away communities in the folds of the mountains are part of the nature of the Appalachians.

“So we’re going to be continually doing this because these places don’t get supply trucks," he says. "There isn’t a grocery store anywhere around us right now, right? So we see this as an ongoing process of care for our community.”

The storm has, for now, shut down some key economic generators for the region, including Appalachian State University and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Organizers and volunteers say those closures will mean the needs for the region will likely continue for months.