By Theresa Opeka
Carolina Journal
- “It was this perfect storm where it all came together,” said Jason Kimak, of Samaritan’s Purse. “It’s as big as any disaster we’ve seen, and the need is great in comparison with the other ones that we respond to.”
Boone-based Christian ministry Samaritan’s Purse is once again answering the call to those in need in several states, including North Carolina, after the devastating effects from Hurricane Helene.
Jason Kimak, Senior Director of North American Ministries with Samaritan’s Purse, told Carolina Journal in a phone interview Monday that Hurricane Helene has been absolutely devastating to parts of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee, with catastrophic damage in each of these areas where they are responding.
“Here in Boone, specifically, we’re seeing just a ton of damage,” he said. “People who’ve lost connection to even the town of Boone and the surrounding area because of the washout of the roads. Families who’ve lost their homes because they’ve been washed away by the river. You have several who just had mud put on to their house from the river rising. You’ve got trees down and people with no food, no water. It’s a pretty tough situation up here in the high country as well as all the other areas.”
Fortunately, the Christian humanitarian aid organization’s international headquarters only lost power for a time. Several staff members also lost power and water but have been able to get back to work.
“We have volunteers coming in from around the country, but also local volunteers who are showing up every day, and what we do is we go out and serve families to help them get back to their homes,” Kimak said. “They’re coming in to volunteer to cut trees, move debris, tarp roofs, mudding out homes, which is cutting drywall, taking out insulation, and we spray this stuff called Shockwave to kill the mold, and some of it’s just content recovery.”
He also said they have chaplains from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association with whom they partner. They come up and spend time with those families who have been affected.
“It’s very traumatic,” Kimak said. “A lot of people are without hope and so they come in to just spend time with the families, pray with them, love on them, and then ultimately it comes with a message, and that’s that you’re not forgotten by the Lord. He loves you, and he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for you, and you can have eternal life and a relationship with God through his son Jesus Christ, and so we come with that message as well.”
He also commended those working in emergency management, local government, police, and first responders who are doing an incredible job working around the clock to provide help, get food and water to people, and pray for them as well.
According to a press release on its website, in addition to Boone, Samaritan’s Purse is providing relief to other areas of Watauga County and surrounding communities in Ashe and Avery counties and Buncombe County, which includes Asheville, Black Mountain, Montreat, and Swannanoa. They are also assisting in Johnson County in eastern Tennessee.
They have bases set up at Alliance Bible Fellowship in Boone and at the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove in Asheville.
One of their helicopters airlifted food and water to Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk this past weekend.
In addition, they are also assisting at three area hospitals: Charles A. Cannon Jr. Memorial Hospital, Linville, Avery County, Ashe County Hospital, and Watauga Medical Center. At Cannon Memorial, Samaritan’s Purse is deploying a 20-bed emergency field hospital designed as an emergency room triage unit. The facility, requested by the Appalachian Regional Health System/UNC Health System, should be operational today and will be staffed by their Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) medical personnel.
Search-and-rescue teams have also been scouring Avery County today and expect an influx of injured people. At Watagua and Ashe, they have established field units to provide oxygen for patients without power at home.
People from all over the county have come to volunteer their time and efforts to help out Samaritan’s Purse’s efforts, which Kimak said will probably take weeks, if not months.
“The size of the storm was in the 90th percentile of just how big it was, and as a Category Four, and then you throw in the outer bands, they were getting rain for several days right before the storm actually even came up into North Carolina, so it was this perfect storm where it all came together,” he said. “It’s as big as any disaster we’ve seen, and the need is great in comparison with the other ones that we respond to,” he said.
When asked what people can do to help, Kimak first said to pray for the families that are hurting right now, trying to get back on their feet, get back to their homes, and a normal life. Also pray for local governments, first responders, emergency management, and their staff and volunteers.
“I’d ask you to go to samaritanspurse.org,” he said. “We love having volunteers. It is a major part of what we do to help these people, and so we’d ask for everyone to consider coming to volunteer with us so that we can help as many people here at each of our locations. Come serve with us for the opportunity to help people get back on their feet into their homes, but also hear a message that God loves them and he hasn’t forgotten them.”
Theresa Opeka is the Executive Branch reporter for the Carolina Journal.
