SWANNANOA, N.C. (828newsNOW) — In the days after Hurricane Helene, relief stations provided services like potable water, showers and laundry to those who were left without them. Volunteers handed out cases of water bottles and canned goods. FEMA officials guided residents through aid applications. Warm-hearted people cooked up hot meals for those in need.
Though it’s been nearly two months since the storm wreaked havoc in the region, Western North Carolina is still healing. There is nowhere that’s more apparent than in the parking lot of a vacated Ingles in Swannanoa, N.C.
The large parking lot is located off of U.S. 70 and is normally shared by several businesses, including the Ingles, its associated fuel station and an Ace Hardware. Since the storm, the businesses have stayed shuttered. In their place, a caravan of charity efforts have set up shop.
Between the doors of Ingles and the far edge of the parking lot, as many as four different free food enterprises at a time hand out meals from dawn to dusk. They come from all over and serve all sorts of cuisine.
“Always somebody here cooking,” one woman remarked, recalling quesadillas distributed earlier in the day.
Two regular presences in the lot in recent days are the American Red Cross and a church group all the way from Fort Wayne, I.N.
The Fort Wayne group serves meals around 11 a.m. every day and goes until dark. Some workers get started at the site as early as 4 a.m. to ensure the food is ready to go in time.
Joash Myers and Leah Myers are a married couple and leaders in the church community. The two arrived in Swannanoa only a few days earlier, but at a rough estimate said their church had been in the area since Oct. 15.
According to Joash Myers, the aid they provide to the community is simple.
“We cook food and give away free food. That’s all,” Joash Myers laughed. “Some of it we’ve went around and asked local people, ‘Hey, do you want a free meal?'”
“We’ve given out thousands of meals taken around the neighborhood to people that have been affected by the hurricane,” Leah Myers added.
The couple works alongside over 30 people from their church to administer their edible alleviation. Under their tent, people were attentively attending to half a dozen stations, ranging from cleaning ovens and boxing food to creating handwritten notes to accompany the meals.
“Our goal is to show the love of Christ to people in pain and need. Hurting people,” Leah Myers said. “Because that’s what Jesus did when he was on the earth.”
The notes the children write and colorful scripture adorning the food boxes are an extra dollop of love that the community adds to their meals.
“We have had a lot of people come back in tears saying ‘the message was just what I needed today to get through the day,’ or ‘it was so special to see a handwritten note that somebody cares about us,’ or ‘thank you for loving us,'” Leah Myers recalled. “People come back to want to be prayed over them or sing them to them to help through sorrow and grief.”
The couple estimated that their church serves 850 to 1200 meals every day. Their impact on the community, however, is immeasurable.
The Myerses weren’t the only couple handing out meals in the Swannanoa lot.
Elizabeth Burke and Ron Ferguson are ERV – Emergency Response Vehicle – drivers for the Red Cross. The two are from Oregon and volunteered to head out to Asheville to help the Red Cross with Helene relief for two weeks. They arrived last week, Thursday, Nov. 14 and will be here until Thanksgiving.
Giving is the word for what the couple is doing in town. Ferguson and Burke work two shifts a day from their ERV, dishing out meals for lunch – 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. – and dinner – 4 to 6:30 p.m.
Their food is made in partnership with local organizations. An initial round was supplied by N.C. Baptist Men and a later dinner came from Helene-relief stalwart Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ.
The couple was driven from their humanitarian jobs on the West Coast, where Burke is a nurse by trade, to help with Helene relief in part to repay the kindness they feel the country has shown Oregon in recent years.
“You guys, people, have been out there responding for all of our fires. It’s kind of the, you know, returning favor,” Burke said.
The Red Cross duo have been able to serve around 50 meals for every lunch and dinner. They consider their output modest in comparison to other stations, but there’s a good reason for why.
“We’re out here lunch and dinner, but this is a really low site because there’s so much other stuff going on here,” Ferguson explained.
The Swannanoa free food court is a popular spot, after all.
