Church Steps Up Where FEMA Failed With Hurricane Helene

This article also appears on Million Voices.

If Christians organizations hadn’t stepped in to financially and practically support the victims of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina, a majority of estimated 10,000 square miles devastated would still be in ruin.

A video shared by one of YouTube’s most successful and watchable creators, Peter Santenello, in June revealed what is really happening in western North Carolina more than half a year after the region was devastated by Hurricane Helene.

It is hard to describe the sheer scale of the destruction, with some estimates suggesting anywhere from 250 to more than 500 lives lost in the extreme weather event that flattened much of the region. Entire towns were destroyed in a matter of hours as landslides and biblically-enormous torrents of water washed through the valleys and hollers that define the geography of Appalachia.

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Many areas are still without power, while others are barely receiving cell service thanks to the free provision of Starlink, a Bat Cave local legend and First Department chief Steve told Santenello. “That was a tremendous help,” Steve said of Starlink.

Not even 911 was available to locals, making this arguably one of the worst natural disasters in modern American history.

Watch the interview with Steve:

Landslides, tornadoes, torrents of water over already saturated land led to the total washout of homes, bridges, and roads, rendering some areas inaccessible to this day.

Santenello noted that many people have differing opinions on the emergency response from FEMA, so asked Steve for his take on the situation, as well as the temperature of the community as it relates to support from the state and federal government. Steve offered his personal story on the situation, detailing how his house was hit by a landslide. He didn’t tell anyone what had happened because he “had other things to do.” (RELATED: Hurricane Warnings Ramp Up For Summer With ‘Above Normal’ Forecast)

“I was lucky, blessed enough to be able to stay in the house. I just had to shut off half of it, so I spent all my time rescuing and doing that sort of thing,” he told Santenello. “Well, when FEMA came in, you apply for it and all that. Right off the bat, the first thing was, ‘oh, we’ll get you a place to stay.'” FEMA offered him a place three counties away from his people, so Steve turned it down.

“After that, my house had basically $20,000 worth of damage to it,” he continued. FEMA came to look at it “and they gave me $2,000.” Everyone kept Steve and others to keep appealing the decision, which he has done for months (seven at the time of filming), and nothing has changed. FEMA will not help him, just like they haven’t helped most of the people Santenello interviewed — and those who spoke to Million Voices on condition of anonymity.

‘Thank God For The Christian Organizations’

“Thank God for the Christian organizations,” Steve continued. “… ‘Cause they have come up and helped get me back. But if I was waiting for FEMA, I would be screwed.”

Things have improved since “the politics changed after the election,” Steve clarified. “But before that it was terrible.” Still, some people are falling through the cracks, “and I think it’s just the bureaucracy of how big [FEMA] is.” (RELATED: Guys, We May Have Found The Most Addictive New Outdoors Show On YouTube)

The biggest thing locals in WNC need right now is for the roads to be rebuilt. Without access, everything else is on-hold. Families are living almost a year post-Helene without any septic, forced to use buckets instead of bathrooms. “We’re just in a really bad position not having the real estate to be able to do kind of [rebuilding of roads],” Steve noted.

Still, Christian and Amish organizations have stepped up where FEMA has failed, proving that the government is not your community. In the most dire situations, the government probably won’t come and help you.

One group who have shown up to help is Spokes of Hope, the founder of which spoke with Santenello at length about his organization’s ethos of help. “I’m going to go straight Jesus on you,” Shane Zoccole said before he started. “At the end of the day, God tells His people He’ll never leave us or forsake us. And if we’re going to come to a town and say ‘Our God will never leave you or forsake you,’ and we leave in a couple [of] weeks, then we forsake them.”

The Last Thing Jesus Said On The Cross

“And what’s the last thing Jesus said on the cross? ‘It’s finished,'” Zoccolo continued. “We got to finish. That’s the way we do it, or we take people’s faith away.”

Going to a disaster zone or mission and not finishing what you went there to do is no different to taking the Lord’s name in vain, Zoccolo added. “That’s not the way God works. He took it to the cross. All the way. If Jesus would have stopped two-third of the way and said, ‘that’s it, I spent enough.'” Zoccolo didn’t need to finish this thought, because we all know what would have happened if Jesus had quit what He came here to do.

“Wake up, church! We need a capital ‘C,'” Zoccolo added.

Psalm 133

A song of ascents. Of David.

¹How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity!

²It is like precious oil poured on the head,
    running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
    down on the collar of his robe.
³It is as if the dew of Hermon
    were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
    even life forevermore.