In early October, I had the opportunity to assist with the flood relief efforts in North Carolina that were caused by Hurricane Helene. I wanted to share with you some background on my trip and the most honest assessment of the devastation residents in Asheville, Black Mountain, Swannanoa, and many other communities continue to be faced with.

I had seen a Facebook post calling for assistance from pilots, so I reached out to Savage Freedoms Relief Operations, a local organization in North Carolina that was created to assist with transporting essential supplies. On October 19, a constituent of mine, National Guard Chief Blackhawk pilot John Behuniak, and I departed Connecticut for North Carolina. As we flew into the valleys, the level of destruction was almost indescribable, with damage stretching out as far as your eyes could see.

While there, we stayed in tents located on the property of the Asheville Harley Davidson dealership, whose owner allowed the group to use his facility as a supply station. While the weather stayed relatively warm during the daytime, nights got a bit cooler, and temperatures dropped below freezing at least one of the nights we were there.

Each day and night, we were briefed on the day ahead and took time for prayer on behalf of everyone involved. During the day we observed dozens of commercial and private trucks rolling in with donations (food, clothing, toiletries, tools, generators, animal feed, etc.) to assist in these efforts.

We flew reconnaissance in the valleys to the north, documenting the flight through video and GPS coordinates so that ground crews could use the data in the days ahead to target areas that had not yet been reached. There are still dozens of volunteers in Asheville at the base we were deployed out of and other organizations assisting those volunteers, who likely number into the hundreds. The National Guard presence that was previously in the area has now gone, and the missions are primarily being carried out by non-profit, humanitarian, and faith-based organizations. These men and women are some of the most talented volunteers that I have ever had the pleasure of working with.

I heard so many stories of hardship, heartache, and stories of resilience and wanted to share this information in hopes that you might want to assist in these relief efforts, whether that be with your time, effort, talent, or via a monetary contribution. If you are interested in offering some help, the Savage Freedoms Relief Operations have compiled a list of needed donations here. You can also follow them on Facebook here. Additionally, while we didn’t participate with Samaritan’s Purse, we heard great things about them, and they are performing similar humanitarian work to assist those in need. You can read more about them here.