I live in a small town at the base of the foothills in Western North Carolina, on the edge of the major disaster zone of hurricane Helene. When the hurricane hit, I was still in Raleigh, and the rest of my family was home to ride out the storm. The hurricane created major destruction just a short drive West of where I live in Cherryville, but the damage had lessened by the time it hit my home. My family lost power for about 4 or 5 days and local infrastructure was impeded but not destroyed, which made life difficult for a short time. Immediately following the disaster my family gathered supplies and took a trailer up through the disaster zone, stopping at churches that acted as supply outposts to find where their help was most needed. This was the first of several trips that they took to help as much as they could, bringing essential supplies to the families that had lost it all. The churches spread throughout the mountains were crucial centers for the disaster recovery, serving their local communities in any way possible. As my family made their way through the mountains, the churches they stopped at would send them further into the disaster zone to drop off supplies where they were needed the most. My family was blessed to have only been affected in the short term but many families and communities were changed forever by the loss of their homes and their loved ones due to this terrible disaster.