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When I was visiting my family for Christmas just a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to partner with a local church and provide Christmas gifts and supplies to families in my county of less than 20,000 people, which straddles the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. .
This experience gave me the opportunity to listen to the stories of my neighbors, many of whom I have known my whole life.
One story stuck in my mind. A multi-generational family of six lives in a fifth-wheel trailer. They had They lost their home And everything they hold dear – except their faith.
Unfortunately, their story is all too familiar throughout the small mountain communities of southern Appalachia.
It's been nearly five months since then Hurricane Helen He reshaped the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina forever.
In the months that followed, we saw the true nature of humanity.
Our community has come together. Companies help each other clean up and rebuild. Churches still provide warm clothing and hot meals on foot and on horseback. Nonprofits from across the Southeast are delivering necessary supplies like diapers, blankets and baby formula.
It was Elon Musk, with the help of ordinary citizens like former Nascar driver Greg Biffle and the Cajun Navy, who delivered. Starlink routers To every crevice of Western North Carolina, connecting us to the outside world.
Western North Carolina and southern Appalachia are rebuilding on their own.
The federal government was slow to respond and help despite the amazing efforts of leaders like Congressman Chuck Edwards and Senators Thom Tillis and Ted Budd.
Partisan politics has slowed Relief effortswith many in Raleigh and Washington putting party over people.
As temperatures drop and snow falls each week, many North Carolinians remain homeless, relying on tents for shelter.
FEMA delivered trailers to the area but failed to efficiently approve those who applied for them nearly five months ago.
The shining light during this storm is the resilience of Appalachia. Although instigators on both sides tried to use this disaster for their own political gain, our communities came together and helped each other.
Cities like Marshall, North Carolina, plan to reopen in the coming months even though more than half the city has been destroyed by floodwaters.
In the more than 25 years I've been in Western North Carolina, we've become stronger than you've ever seen us before.
However, the strength and resilience of our society can only sustain our perception of normalcy for so long.
Western North Carolina is in despair.
Leaders on both sides of the aisle need to hold accountable the government bureaucracy that challenges the needs of our communities.
Winter is just beginning. With temperatures dropping into the single digits and wind chills in the negatives, churches and nonprofits are jumping into action to fill the permanent void left by ineffective government red tape.
It was time to work five months ago, but better late than no work.
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Our community Urgent need of investments in affordable housing and infrastructure to boost our local economies and provide families with the resources they need to get back on their feet.
Insurance companies are redefining flood zones; Many families are being removed from their homes and belongings. The Small Business Administration is running out of money, slowing recovery in areas that need economic opportunity the most. County and municipal governments are relying on the slow distribution of disaster relief funds to get vital agencies back to work.
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This is not a political issue and should not be controversial. For more than 100 years, our federal government has lagged behind Appalachia. And now, when we need them most, they still cannot act urgently.
Appalachia will not be defined by Helen; It will be defined by the overwhelming response of the people who call these mountains home.
