Workers rebuild a home damaged by Hurricane Helene in Mitchell County, North Carolina on Sept. 11, 2025. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)
Almost a year after Hurricane Helene, Claudette Childs worried that help was never coming.
Her family store in Burnsville, passed down through four generations, was completely destroyed in the storm. And her FEMA application for repairs on her home in Pensacola, N.C., had been pending for months.
Last month, she finally got word that assistance was coming – but not from FEMA. Samaritan’s Purse, the Christian humanitarian nonprofit based in Boone, sent a contractor to restore part of her property that washed away under her deck and left the stairs hanging in midair. It would have cost her around $7,000.
“They have helped so many here, including our church,” Childs said. “I have nothing but good to say about them.”
Recently, Childs said she finally heard back from FEMA — one day after she appeared in a WRAL documentary feature, calling the government response to Helene survivors “not acceptable.”
“I don’t think it was an accident,” she said. “It had been months since I’d heard from them.”
After exchanging more paperwork, Childs said she’s now expecting assistance from FEMA in the coming week.
Helene was one of the last major hurricanes to make landfall in the U.S. before a new administration entered office, promising sweeping changes to how the government responds to disasters, regulates spending and distributes aid.
Recovery from the storm has reflected that broad new man a slower trickle of federal money, accounting for about 10% of the storm’s total damage after one year. Key aid and grant programs now require new layers of bureaucratic approval, enforced by the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Frustrated Western North Carolinians like Childs have instead leaned on the private sector — a vast network of churches, nonprofits and community aid groups that unfurled a safety net free from the constraints of the government.
Samaritan’s Purse and Baptists on Mission, both Christian nonprofits based in North Carolina, have each repaired hundreds of homes; the state’s federally-funded program has repaired two. The state has tapped NGOs — Golden Leaf Foundation and Mountain BizWork — to send money to struggling small businesses and local governments.
And on Thursday, Gov. Josh Stein announced that 14 nonprofit groups helping build homes would receive $9 million in grants. An additional $6 million was awarded to Baptists on Mission and Habitat for Humanity in January.
“Thank goodness for all these nonprofits who have just done a Herculean job,” said Nathan Ramsey, executive director of the Land of Sky Regional Council. “They filled a gap where, unfortunately, public dollars are slow.”
The mountains’ recovery has forced officials to reckon with a disaster recovery process that could look radically different in years to come.
City and county officials have banded together to create hyper-local hubs of support and resources. And lawmakers have introduced a bill that would overhaul North Carolina’s emergency management agency, while the White House considers shifting the burden of response to the states.
The state, meanwhile, continues the marathon to repair, rebuild and better prepare for the next storm.
Massive debris removal efforts and repairs have reopened 95% of state-maintained roads. Local governments are starting to receive $55 million in state dollars to rebuild infrastructure around small businesses. And more than 3,200 applicants are seeking help through the state’s single-family housing program, which relies on federal funding.
“It’s going to take a long time to build thousands of houses,” said Lee Lilley, North Carolina’s secretary of commerce, in an interview. “It’s going to take a long time to build multi-family housing projects … to rebuild some of the critical infrastructure. A long time means, in some cases, months, in some cases, years. But we’re committed to it the whole time.”
Nonprofits, an ‘essential part’, remain on the ground
Samaritan’s Purse isn’t packing up their recovery efforts in western North Carolina anytime soon.
The Boone-based nonprofit founded by Franklin Graham plans to continue working in the region for up to five years, according to Luther Harrison, the vice president for North American ministries. They want to see “hundreds of homes rebuilt” in that time.
Aid began with a flurry of helicopter missions dropping food, water and equipment in the weeks after the storm. In the year since, volunteers with the group have thus far finished 55 house repairs and more than 500 repairs on driveways, bridges and culverts, Harrison said. That’s in addition to more than 150 mobile homes delivered to families needing shelter.
“We’re not here to compete against the builders in the state,” Harrison said. “But I always tell the contractors … ‘Can you afford to do this work for free?’ And they say no, I can’t do that.”
Baptists on Mission, with five “rebuild centers” throughout the region, has completed repairs on more than 500 homes as of late September, according to the group’s website.
Their role remains distinct from the state’s, but no less important, Lilley said. While repairs paid for by tax dollars undergo rigorous vetting, volunteer groups have been free to move swiftly to build and repair. They’re also able to aid families who don’t fall within the eligibility requirements of state and federal programs.
“They’re really an essential part of the process,” Lilley said. “And they remain partners throughout.”
Lawmakers have been envious of that speed — consistently frustrated with the state’s homebuilding process by comparison, even as administration officials stress that it is one of the most swift in history.
“I wish (the state) would hire you, or at least work with you,” House Majority Leader Brenden Jones (R-Columbus) remarked to Harrison when he testified before a committee last month. Harrison responded that the group doesn’t take government money, in part so it can continue working at its current pace.
“As long as we have opportunities and there’s need, all we do is put out an appeal to our volunteers to come out,” Harrison said. “They’ve never let us down.”
What a slower flow of FEMA aid means for recovery
FEMA public assistance for North Carolina families and households has totaled $515 million since Helene, according to the agency. That’s in addition to $2 billion allocated for debris removal.
A different category of public aid — that for local and state governments — faces new barriers to delivery. Every project must be signed off on by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and are now also put on hold as the state submits itemized breakdowns for the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The state has sent in more than 1,000 such requests.
“I think the current process for FEMA is kind of a disaster with public assistance,” Lilley said. “It’s a real stressor for local governments, and it delays other things.”
It’s difficult to know how to send money for broader infrastructure projects before that public assistance is doled out, Lilley added. As it stands now, most municipalities and counties don’t know how much aid they’ll receive.
“Are they going to get 100%? Are they going to get 60 cents on the dollar? What’s left on their workbook?” Lilley said. “These things have to go faster. And we all bear responsibility for that, but it starts with the federal response. And the federal response needs to be so much more streamlined.”
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