From one Chimney Rock to another – on Friday, September 27, 2024, after three days of rain, Hurricane Helene stalled over the Appalachian Mountains, inflicting catastrophic damage and horror for our neighbors to the south. The Chimney Rock Chronicle staff wishes to support Chimney Rock, NC and surrounding communities by sharing stories of hope to highlight God’s provision, reminding us of the needs of our fellow Americans, and providing trustworthy organizations to donate for the ongoing relief efforts that are so critical.
United Carolinas Cavalry was born in the hours after Helene struck and became official in October 2024. UCC’s mission is to provide that very rapid, first strike response; to be able to get people to survive that first 72 hours when disaster happens. “Today it’s western North Carolina, tomorrow it may be off the coast of North Carolina, but UCC is really committed to North and South Carolina areas,” cofounder Joel Amick shares. Callie Farmer, the other founder, further explains, “We’re prepared for future disasters, but in the meantime, our main focus in the meantime continues to be on WNC because they’re not ok.”
Today UCC’s focus is getting some relief and support to farmers through agricultural rebuilds. Callie details, “When I talk about farmers, yes, there’s a lot of commercial farmers up in Western North Carolina, but it was just a lifestyle passed down to them – hobby farmers, homesteaders, and off-gridders make up a big population of WNC, so none of their farms were registered. It’s how they chose to live, relying on their livestock – including bees – as a source of income to their families. And what we’re seeing is, a lot of these farmers, and I’ll say hobby farmers, because they weren’t a registered farm, they can’t get any help. There’s no grants really available for them. They didn’t have insurance on their farms or on their livestock.”
Callie tells of (for privacy, an anonymous) beekeeper whom they were helping to put hives back on his property – “he and his wife were in their house when a landslide came barreling through it. They were separated and when he came to…he had a broken back. It took him a long time to find his wife and finally get her pulled out. They climbed up into a shed on the top of their hill that was, by the grace of God still standing, and waited there until someone could come get them.” Referring to the workday, “He’s precious. Bless him, he wouldn’t sit still, he’s a farmer through and through. After fussing with him back and forth, [chuckles] ‘Here, Put the insulators on the t posts that don’t require any heavy lifting!’ He had a just had a back surgery to fix his broken back.”
Bee the BUZZ is a specific campaign that UCC is hosting to promote a revenue source and ecological necessity – rebuilding the bee population after hives and fields were washed out. This program offers a range of giving options with thoughtful intention, e.g., one dollar will help replace bees and rebuild hives; $100 will help provide pollen patties – a “food source that sustains bees through critical seasons.” There is the “Hive Five” Challenge – to plant five pollinator flowers or provide bee baths, sharing with the hashtag #HiveFiveChallenge. The Memorial Hive Program features a custom remembrance plaque. $500 provides the total cost of a hive with bees, and $1,500 will buy a complete honey extraction kit, an essential element of honey harvesting. There will be WNC local workshops to educate and promote biodiversity, and other remedial community events. Check out https://givebutter.com/Buzz to read about each tier of this creative and important project!
Volunteers and equipment are still desperately needed to clean up debris and repair homes. The entire region is suffering from extreme exhaustion and losses. Joel reasons, “[Awareness] been a problem from the very get go. WNC, at least from the people that we’ve talked to, have not felt like they have been recognized for the amount of devastation that’s happened. There’s still people hurting here. Like Florida, a hurricane comes in, there’s a month worth of cleanup and kind of everything goes back to normal. Well, the topography we have to deal with in the Appalachian Mountains is not Florida, it’s not flat, and that’s why the aircraft [at the time of the flood] – and the helicopters that continue to run – are so vital to survival, but the news doesn’t get out like that within the hollers. These people are passionate about the way they live, but they don’t like a whole lot of publicity, but it’s needed. They largely feel like they have been cast aside. This is a marathon, not a sprint.” UCC is looking at this agricultural rebuild and apiary rejuvenation as a multiyear project. Joel and Callie resoundingly agreed that children are welcome in volunteer work. Callie says, “I love these kids, they just jump in and help. They are so eager to work. It is such a learning experience for children as well; I love being able to introduce a lot of the humanitarian stuff that we do. I will always sing praises for the kids that showed up. We had baseball teams showing up, boy scouts showing up, they were phenomenal.”
The sense of community is a constant theme that defines the relief efforts since Helene. Callie shared that some farmers in Ferguson, NC, had donated so many apiary supplies, even though they themselves had property damage. Struck with emotion, Joel wavers, “There’s [some]thing I would love for Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky to know, and that’s “thank you” because y’all came to our aid when we needed it.” Since Helene, there has been more flooding in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia; UCC was compelled to go help just because of the kindness they had shown. Those folks already had Callie’s contact information. She recounts, “It was amazing because, a lot of the people that we met up in these areas were people that we already knew from WNC and they reached out to me, ‘hey, we need help.’ We didn’t bat an eye, we knew that…we had to be there because [they] were there for us one hundred percent. There’s always beauty in the midst of chaos, and that is one of the most beautiful things, I think. I call them ‘God winks’ because it is the only way for things to be explained. It is a God thing, and He has been winking this entire time.”
To learn more or support UCC, find them at https://UnitedCarolinasCavalry.org/, FB, IG, venmo, @UnitedCarolinasCavalry; confirmation code 7447.
