Community families come together to overcome challenges after Hurricane Helene

ASHEVILLE, NC (WLOS) At Kenilworth Presbyterian Church in Asheville, NC, church members and volunteers set up a non-potable water station in front of the church steps.

Days have passed, the church on Kenilworth Road has set up a station outside where large bowls are filled with non-potable water for families in need of clean water.

Another station the church has set up among Helene’s events to help local families is the church’s childcare center, which allows parents to work during the recovery period when many schools across the district remain closed.

Another parent who has volunteered her time to help with the program is Claire Stanhope, a mother of two who is working to get her children settled in their home in the same neighborhood, Kenilworth, where she grew up.

“We have empty buckets in the corner that need to be filled with gray water for flushing,” Stanhope said.

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There are water stations in the kitchen for cooking and dishwashing, as well as treated water in the bathrooms, including drinking water for brushing teeth. Also, in his kitchen, Stanhope has a piece of composting toilet that will use wood as compost on the door of his refrigerator.

Stanhope feels lucky that her young daughters, aged six and two, can have normalcy while the water breaks.

“My heart is broken,” Stanhope said of the damage to many families in the area. “This is where I grew up, and it hurts a lot.”

He and other members of the church volunteered to help other families, including those nearby.

“We’re trying to give back – we’re going around the neighborhood making sure the elderly and the homeless are taken care of and have food and water,” Stanhope said.

The church is a longtime community gathering place that brought neighbors together with donations ranging from water to food in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

A few miles away, Livingston Community families are providing services and have set up a large food and water center at the Edington Center for anyone living in the Asheville community.

Across the street, in the Erskine housing district, Olympia Garrett, known as Mama Ji, has been helping her daughter and three grandchildren for the past week. After leaving their building after the storm, they stayed with Garrett at his apartment in Erskine.

Garrett showed News 13 the water feature he created inside and outside his apartment.

“We used a cooler,” Garrett said. We opened it, and we were able to catch the rainwater.”

In his kitchen, Garret has containers for special water functions. Upstairs, the family also has water in bowls for brushing teeth and a separate bucket for flushing the toilet.

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“What we did was create a new bucket, so it’s clean, so it’s body water and water to wash dishes,” Garret said.

The family is united, and the mother-daughter team is determined to see this through despite a possible month in Asheville without water from their taps.

Garrett’s daughter, La Toya Griffith, said she learned a lot from her mother, especially the importance of staying organized in times like these. It helps keep the mood calm and reduce stress, he said.

“I mean it’s nice, isn’t it?” said Griffith. “Most people don’t have mothers like her.”

As her mother hugged her grandchildren, it was clear that, with a strong grandmother leading the way, this family would be able to get through this difficult time.