For more than six months, the Amish disaster recovery ministry Great Needs Trust has been putting Chimney Rock, North Carolina together, after Hurricane Helene almost wiped the town off the map. They've been working in virtual anonymity, but WCNC-TV out of Charlotte heard about it.
“There's still plenty of work ahead but for Chimney Rock, recovery is clearly in motion,” reports WCNC’s Jesse Pierre.
There was widespread destruction across Western North Carolina (shown in top photo).
Chris Glick of Great Needs Trust says the group’s volunteers – Amish men and women known as skilled woodworkers -- are doing mostly manual labor using building materials that FEMA or another source has procured.
But before they were hanging sheetrock and putting up cabinets, over the winter they put together dozens of tiny homes at a cost of about $6,000 each so hurricane victims would have some cover during the winter.
“Last winter there was a lot of them, I mean, we got I don't know how many semi loads of lumber we got in. People were donating money, the lumber companies pitched in. Honestly, I don't know where the money all came from, but we never ran out.”
Helen's path left great need across north Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas and even reached into Tennessee and Kentucky. (Map shown right)
Great Needs expects to be in Chimney Rock for another six months to a year rebuilding lives as well as homes.
“We have a barn fire or disaster it's get in, get it get it done, get it cleaned up, and get on moving on. Whereas in the Chimney Rock or down in Hendersonville, we have to be careful that we don't come in with the mindset of just getting it back up, because some people, they just want to talk,” Glick said.
