Christ the King Lutheran Church members Kirsten and Rob Balancia recently traveled to North Carolina and delivered supplies to those impacted by Hurricane Helene. However, they are already planning to return to the region in less than two months from now to continue providing relief. Except this time, the Balancias hope to take a few more people with them.

Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina in late September with historic levels of rainfall and intense winds, leaving numerous communities across the region desperately needing support.

The western North Carolina area is one that holds a lot of significance to the Balancias. Kirsten said that her father retired to Hendersonville, which is around 25 miles away from Asheville. He lived there for close to 30 years before passing away in 2021, and Kirsten and Rob would frequently visit.

It was over the course of their visits that Kristen and Rob grew to be familiar with the small towns in western North Carolina. When Hurricane Helene swept through the region, many of those small towns, such as Swannanoa, Bat Cave, and Chimney Rock, were particularly devastated.

What they saw down there Rob said were “things that I’ve never seen before.” Piles of debris were wedged into narrow spaces. Containers and fridges were pushed into the middle of fields and bent in half. Steel beams that once supported an entire building now wrapped in on themselves and “turned into a pretzel.”

Having known what those towns used to look like, Kirsten explained that seeing photos of those places after the storm “just really hit home.”

According to Kirsten, she and Rob then realized they were not seeing much coverage for it on the news. Kirsten said she saw people in the community and beyond worried about their family and friends on Facebook and Instagram.

People anxiously waited for an update on their loved ones, as the hurricane left many North Carolina residents without internet or phone service. Kirsten and Rob said that looking through the devastation and concern on social media felt monumental and weighed on them.

That’s when they saw Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian disaster relief organization headquartered in Boone, N.C., actively helping residents in need.

“We saw Samaritan’s Purse was down there and actively helping, and we just kind of looked at each other one day and both said, ‘We have to go. We have to do something,’” Kirsten explained.

Rob said their mission trip plans initially started with concern over Kirsten’s dad’s neighbors, who continuously supported his father-in-law over the years. The Balancias wanted to go down there and see if there was anything they could do to help them. Then, Rob said the mission became “let’s go down and see if we can help North Carolina.”

Three and a half weeks after Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina, the Balancias took off and drove down to Boone to work with Samaritan’s Purse. At first, the area “didn’t look too crazy” according to Rob. However, he said they eventually saw a weird coating of dirt everywhere in the air and on all the cars, buildings, and streets.

Kirsten said that she and Rob mostly helped residents in low-lying communities like Boone, as they were hit hardest by the severe levels of water and wind. According to Rob, they learned how streams in those areas quickly became unimaginably deep, fast, and destructive.

He said that Chimney Rock was a sweet, old-fashioned village decorated with cute souvenir shops and restaurants, but that it all got wiped out from the hurricane. By the time the Balancias got there, the lake had a coating of wood and debris.

“When we saw that, it jerked us a little bit because we had just two years prior taken a picture in the middle of town smiling and taking a selfie, and then all of a sudden, it was gone,” Rob said.

When she and Rob were there, Kirsten said that Samaritan’s Purse had 2,000 work orders. They would gather every morning for orientation and then be sent out as a group of roughly 30 people assigned to a team leader and a truck.

Every group went out equipped with shovels, rakes, chainsaws, personal safety gear, and more to help out local residents. Kirsten said that the people they helped were all incredibly gracious.

One woman whose home they worked on was built by her great grandfather. Kirsten and Rob had to gut its kitchen and completely remove one of the bedroom’s plywood flooring because it had been so wet that there were “big bubbles in the floor.”

Another woman whose house Rob and Kirsten spent most of their time on was “pretty much in shock.” While Rob said the woman’s house was naturally far from water, the water from the hurricane came in and destroyed everything from her appliances to her floors. When they got there, Rob said she was still sleeping there because “she didn’t know what to do.”

“She and others were just paralyzed because to them, it’s like, where else will you go? They don’t have a lot of money. Some were poor to begin with, so when their car gets wiped out, they don’t have the means to go stay with someone states away. They’re stuck,” Rob said.

Rob said that one collection area was also overrun with pets that showed up without their owners because their owners were displaced, injured, or deceased.

Kirsten said that while it is great to provide people with the support that they need, that the reality of the situation could be overwhelming and heartbreaking. She added, “you just have to remind yourself that you’re helping, but are limited in the breadth of what you can do.”

Relief Going Forward

Rob said that he and Kirsten raised money for those in western North Carolina in a couple of different ways through their friendships, past business relationships, and Christ the King.

They have made over $20,000 between food donations to the church and the funding page they established for Samaritan’s Purse, but Rob explained that it’s hard to put a value on all the supplies people dropped off.

With temperatures dropping nationwide, the Balancias and other Christ the King members held a coat drive on Saturday, November 23.

People were encouraged to donate their new or clean and gently used coats, which will be given to North Carolina residents in need so they can keep warm through the winter. Several volunteers helped run the drive and packed coats away into boxes.

By the end of the drive, over ten boxes filled with coats were packed away and ready to be donated. However, Rob said that their relief efforts would not stop with the coat drive on Saturday.

“We’re gonna keep going,” Rob said. “We’re placing collection boxes with businesses we know … we’re gonna have a couple of collection areas and hopefully deliver the hundreds of coats over the next couple of weeks.”

To that end, Kirsten and Rob are planning another mission trip to North Carolina around mid-January, and are extending the invitation to others within the church. They held a meeting with several volunteers towards the end of the coat drive to gauge interest and see who would be interested in going down to work with Samaritan’s Purse. As of right now, they plan to be there for either several days or around a week.

Rob ultimately hopes that through their efforts they create more awareness as to the ongoing struggles of those impacted by Hurricane Helene. While several donation centers are overrun with certain supplies, he encourages anyone interested in helping to look into reputable resources and find what works best for them.

“This is what we want to do,” Rob said. “We want to keep going. Originally, we went as just the two of us to get a feel for it, but hopefully it expands.”

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.