CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two powerhouse organizations from the Charlotte area are teaming up to make a big dent in recovery efforts across the mountains.
Lowe’s and Samaritan's Purse are bringing hundreds of volunteers to get hands-on with cleanup efforts.
Sean Reilly is the Lowe’s Regional Vice President for the Carolina stores and he along with dozens of Lowe’s workers are spending this week volunteering alongside Samaritan's Purse volunteers from across the country, fanning out across the mountain region trying to help homeowners start to dig out from the mess Helene left behind.
“Really just mass devastation [everywhere],” Reilly says of the Asheville region where one team is helping rip out insulation from a house that was fully engulfed during the flood.
“It’s amazing the power of nature driving along the river and seeing all the debris and all the force it leaves you speechless,” Clark Schneemann, a Samaritan's Purse volunteer, said.
It has also motivated throngs of volunteers to do what they can.
“It’s very hands-on work," Reilly said. "Tyvex suits pulling out insulation, drywall anything that needs to be done to see if we can help get these people back into their homes as soon as possible.”
“I don’t have any words to describe what’s happening," Maria Salgado, a homeowner, said. "[We were] living in this house for 18 years and we lost everything, everything is gone.”
Salgado says she is beyond grateful for all the help.
The volunteers are trying to save pieces of her house so that she can rebuild.
“So grateful to see people that we don’t even know helping us,” Salgado said.
Amid all the destruction in the area, signs of hope, workers rescued a tiny kitten and brought it to a nearby animal hospital to be checked out.
"We were pulling insulation out from underneath the home and a kitten piled out," Schneemann said. "It feels good, its life in the midst, a reminder there’s always life and there’s always hope.”
If you’d like to help, they need volunteers all week and invite the public to help out. They’ll give you the tools and instructions, everything you need. For more information: samaritanspurse.org