Transcript:
After Hurricane Helene caused devastation across the southern Appalachian Mountains last fall, Valentine Reilly of Boone, North Carolina, sprang into action.
Reilly: “I found a generator. I got propane. … I got bread, peanut butter, jelly, you know, food that would be easy for people to create without power … and then I headed straight to the state line.”
… to an indoor skateboard park called Zionville Ramp Company, in the rural community of Trade, Tennessee.
The owner, Ashley Galleher, partnered with Reilly to transform the skate park into the State Line Resource Station – a distribution hub for food, water, fuel, and other basic supplies.
This helped meet people’s immediate needs. But long-term recovery would require a lot more.
Reilly: “We have homes that were just completely wiped off the sides of mountains. … It’s rampant, the amount of damage that these storms did.”
So the resource station partnered with a nonprofit to launch a grant program. It provides payments of up to $3,000 to help people rebuild.
It’s been almost a year since the storm, but some people are still struggling to get back in their homes. So grant applications continue to pour in.
Reilly: “As long as we’re able to get funding, we want to be there to help.”
Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media
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