AVERY COUNTY, N.C. — As the Newland community continues to clean up after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc just over a week ago, residents and those coming in to help are looking for their next meal. Many businesses in the community are stepping up to serve.
"We're part restaurant, part catastrophe relief," Belle Morgan, co-owner of the Cranberry Street Cafe, said.
To say things have been chaotic may be an understatement.
"In the middle of Armageddon," Morgan said, laughing. "Feels like it."
Damage is easy to see on the outskirts of town. Morgan says many here may not have been prepared for this.
"I think a lot of people up here were just sideswiped with it," she said. "Just absolutely flabbergasted."
Power at their cafe was slow to come back on. When Morgan's mother, Mary Vance, went to check on their business last week, she noticed they still had no power -- but plenty of guests.
"They were using our Wi-Fi because we had good connectivity," Vance said. "My son-in-law insisted on having good connectivity... People need a lifeline."
That lifeline led to folks giving or asking the cafe to cook their food, at risk of spoiling with no power in their fridges at home. When the donations started piling up, Vance says they knew what needed to be done.
"We just started cooking and putting food out for folks," Vance said. "Right now, we're just trying to help the folks who don't have power, can't cook."
Meals are currently free at the Cranberry Street Cafe, hot and ready when you walk in -- a piece of home in the middle of a nightmare.
"Growing up military, I didn't really have a hometown of my own," Morgan said. "Coming to Newland, this was the first place in my entire life that's ever felt like home."
Donations to the cafe can be made to their cash app. Their handle is the name of the cafe, Cranberry Street Cafe, all in one word.