Delivering Hope: Rebuilding Lives After Hurricane Helene with Faith and Family
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Deliver emergency relief to communities devastated by Hurricane Helene and give them a Merry Christmas.
Nothing to see here, but watch the pattern.
In 1958, Hurricane Helene remained at sea off the eastern U.S. coast while at hurricane strength.
That was fortunate, since a Category 4 storm can be devastating.
North Carolina took the brunt of the storm's tidal surge, but because the surge came at low tide, damage was minimal.
At its closest approach, the hurricane remained 10 miles out to sea.
In 1988 and 2006, Helene again carried great potential for destruction as a Category 4 and Category 3 storm, respectively.
But both hurricanes remained in the open sea.
Category 2 Hurricane Helene formed between the Cabo Verde Islands and West Africa in 2018, but it only caused minor damage to buildings, vehicles, and roads on the islands and downed some trees.
In 2024, Helene hit the Florida coast as a Category 4 major hurricane on September 27th.
Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region near Perry, Florida, with 140 mph winds before roaring through Georgia as a strong tropical storm.
Helene is the first known Category 4 storm to hit Florida's Big Bend region since records began in 1851.
Hurricane Helene's Category 4 status in 2024 approached the strength the hurricane achieved in 1958 and 1988.
To put that into perspective, that represents sustained winds of 150 miles per hour in 1958 and 145 miles per hour in 1988, equivalent to an EF-3 tornado, but on a much more massive scale.
Hurricane Helene, large catastrophic tropical cyclone notable for its rapid intensification that ultimately produced a wide swath of damage and loss of life that extended from northwestern Florida, where the storm made landfall on September 26, 2024, to Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina, making it the deadliest hurricane to strike the U.S. since Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico in 2017.
Some very conservative estimates put the economic impact of the storm, including property and infrastructure damage, as high as $200 billion.
Yes, with a B, which would make Helene the costliest storm in U.S. history.
Hurricane Helene was a devastating tropical cyclone that caused widespread catastrophic damage and fatalities across the southeastern United States in late September 2024.
It was the strongest hurricane on record to strike the Big Bend region of Florida, the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Maria in 2017, and the deadliest to strike the mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005.
The eighth named storm, fifth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.
Helene began forming on September 22nd as a broad low-pressure system in the western Caribbean Sea.
By September 24th, the disturbance had consolidated enough to become a tropical storm as it approached the Yucatan Peninsula, receiving the name Helene from the National Hurricane Center.
Weather conditions led to the cyclone's intensification, and it became a hurricane early on September 25th.
More pronounced and rapid intensification ensued as Helene traversed the Gulf of Mexico the following day, reaching Category 4 intensity on the evening of September 26th.
Late on September 26th, Helene made landfall at peak intensity in the Big Bend region of Florida, near the city of Perry, with maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour.
Helene weakened as it moved quickly inland before degenerating to a post-tropical cyclone over Tennessee on September 27th.
The storm then stalled over the state before dissipating on September 29th.
In advance of Helene's landfall, states of emergency were declared in Florida and Georgia due to the significant impacts expected, including very high storm surge along the coast and hurricane force gusts as far inland as Atlanta.
Hurricane warnings also extended further inland due to Helene's fast motion.
The storm caused catastrophic rainfall-triggered flooding, particularly in western North Carolina, East Tennessee, and southwestern Virginia, and spawned numerous tornadoes.
Helene also inundated Tampa Bay, breaking storm surge records throughout the area.
The hurricane was huge, about 400 miles across, similar in size to Hurricane Katrina, and among the largest to make landfall in the continental U.S. We've lived in a lie ever
Since the formula bottle Desensitized Everything we knew about our problems And now we're all roaming the land Saying how did this big lie start?
It's time to put our faith in him Cause he's gone too far Oh, I believe he died for me And for everyone Anything can be achieved When you count on God Who's gonna take the lead By putting their life on life?
Who's gonna show the children What is wrong and what is right?
Who's gonna take the lead By putting their life on life?
Who's gonna show the children What is wrong and what is right?
blood of Christ Washes everything by the men The sheep are blind, all because their mind is a prison And now they're all roaming the land Saying how did this big lie start It's time they put their faith in him Cause it's gone too far Oh,
I believe he died for me and for everyone Anything can be achieved when you count on God Who's gonna take the lead by putting their life online?
Who's gonna show the children what is wrong and what is right?
Who's gonna take the lead by putting their life online?
Who's gonna show the children what is wrong and what is right?
Jesus, Yeshua, calling on your name, calling on your name Wake up
America, Christopher Key here with Keys to Life Podcast I'm here in North Carolina where the worst devastation I have ever seen And a lot of you have ever seen But what has happened here is like no other And we're gonna walk you through and show you the stories Of people that have God in their life, they have faith and they have family And we want you guys to see exactly what has happened here in North Carolina And we need your prayers, okay?
We need your prayers and we know that God gets all the glory And there's so many people out there right now that are watching this around the fire You know, watching all the shows and whatnot And these people out here, they have absolutely nothing They have nothing, but they have God and they have family And that's one of the most important things my father taught me was about family
Okay, he taught me about family and we all have our family I've got a newfound family here being in North Carolina It's amazing people that have allowed me to come in, come into their homes Sit down and have dinner with them And it's been amazing and my prayer is that this touches your life the way it's touched my life I want to say to my
father, I love you A lot of you guys don't know this, but my father's been diagnosed with prostate cancer And it's very possible that this could be my last Christmas of my father Because he's going to go through chemotherapy and radiation And I love you dad And I hope through seeing this that you'll see how family's everything
Okay, and we give all the glory to God Okay, and through God anything can happen You don't need these doctors that are practiced in medicine You give your faith to the Almighty and he will do miracles And he's going to do a miracle And guys, sit down,
relax, and enjoy this unbelievable peace About God, faith, and family And let it touch your life And please, if you feel like giving, reach out to us Okay, these people need help We need 500 homes for 500 families And God through us will get it done Love you
guys, God bless Yeah, we had a business right across the street Like with the Swannanoa River flowing on the backside of it And we lost everything We had 70 plus buildings And we drove here two days later And there wasn't one building that was ours But there were houses and trailers and tankers And all sorts of things that were strewn across our property And we lost a business But there are a lot of people who lost everything Including loved ones And I believe
that you can serve as a great inspiration to this community right now And the reason being is I think God's given you an indomitable spirit And no matter what gets thrown at you You find a way to press through And I think that will serve as an inspiration to this community To press on and move forward I can't think of anything I'd rather have than a warrior leading our country A warrior
who, with the help of God and with faith and prayer Will lead these communities and this country to greatness So thank you for being here today I appreciate it Come here, come here I never heard anything That was from the heart No speechwriter could write that Thank you Right?
If you don't mind Just because my heart's about to be Yes Do you mind if I pray for you?
Yes, please Okay, so Father, I thank you for this man that you have raised up in this moment, in this season for your purposes And I pray that you would anoint him That things aren't done just by might or by power but by your spirit So I ask that you would anoint President Donald Trump him a spirit of wisdom and
understanding and insight as he moves to lead this nation back to greatness jesus name i pray amen amen wow that's something you don't hear that often that's incredible hey my name is mike um more affectionately known recently as the man in the white hat uh i had the opportunity when president trump was in swan to know to pray for him and uh it was quite a
quite a honor orchestrated by the lord i had nothing to do with it um but obviously the lord had some things he wanted to say to him and just used me i'm a nobody as a vessel to do it and i was thankful for that and one of the reasons i was thankful is because i believe that we're going to have true help out of this uh this next leaders and government to get some things done i'm not the type
that talks down about anything i try to walk in in faith and let the words of my mouth and meditations in my heart be acceptable to the lord so i don't like to doubt either our government i like pray for our government i prayed for the prior administration and i'll certainly praying consistently daily for this generation for the wisdom and to film the direction of the Lord to help make this country great for them.
But our business was located on this piece of property and we lost everything in regard to our business.
74 buildings washed down the river and we were of course replaced with a lot of things from upstream and unfortunately that includes some families and folks that didn't make it because of the flood.
So a very tragic time for us and I stood on the brink of the property and was ready to give up and I just felt a real nudge in my spirit to not give up, to be a beacon of light to the community.
And at that point in time everything was in rubble but our company, Pineview Buildings, rallied around quickly and they helped us.
My driver, young Mennonite man and friends and work associates came and with their equipment cleaned off what would have probably taken months in one weekend, cleaned off all of the rubble that was on our property and people showed up from all over from Alabama,
from Texas, from Georgia, from Florida, from Maine, from Canada to come down and lend hand not just to us but to other folks who were struggling, people that were displaced, that lost their homes, lost family members, couldn't access their property or get out of their property because of fallen trees and driveways that were washed out.
Well the first, we couldn't, the storm, we had about 10 inches of rain on Thursday and then the storm hit on Friday.
I couldn't get here until Saturday afternoon.
So by that time, because I couldn't get out of my driveway, by that time, when we got within a mile of here, we're like so disoriented.
We're seeing 18 wheelers that are just washed off the road, laying on their side, railroad trestles gone, tracks washed out.
And as we got closer, we're looking for some kind of landmark.
Where are we?
And when we got to our portion of property, we're like, where's our office?
Where are the garages?
Where are the buildings?
And all we saw was a raging river.
Somebody has said that our little teeny Swannanoa River, which technically barely even ranks as a river, because a river has to be navigable by some form of boat.
And you couldn't even go down this river in a kayak without getting out and walking it along.
And I think that this river was the same width as the Mississippi and its widest parts.
It covered our main road, Highway 70, by 8 to 10 feet of water.
I couldn't recognize anything.
And then as the river continued to subside, we began to walk and survey and we're seeing piles of cars and trucks on our property down near the river.
There's still an 18 wheeler sitting in the river and a tanker down there.
And you're discovering chaos from everywhere.
We had houses on our property that washed from upstream.
We had mobile homes.
We had, like I said, cars and 18 wheelers and truck.
But we saw the body of Christ rally in such a major way.
And there wasn't ever any talk about denomination or theology.
It was just we're here to show the love of God.
And everybody linked arms.
And you had places spring up all over this area and beyond in western North Carolina.
Just people showing up saying we want to help.
And it hasn't stopped.
It's been a beautiful thing.
In fact, a week ago we had some Amish from Pennsylvania contacted us and said they'd like to come down and spend a week and help and build some buildings.
And they did.
They came down.
There were 16 of them.
Four adults and 12 teenagers.
I have never seen teenagers work any harder than those teenagers did.
And in really about two and a half days they built five beautiful buildings.
They insulated them.
They put really nice paneling in them.
And those will become homes for people to live in over the winter.
And there's been a network of shed haulers who have brought in a total.
I think they've already put out a total of 150 units for people to live in all around western North Carolina.
And we have 35 more coming next week and then the week beyond.
And because of the prayer people were seeing a little over a week ago, a guy from Texas saw it for the first time.
And said, called and said he had a hard time tracking me down.
But wanted to make a donation.
And he had friends that wanted to make donations.
And those donations are going to pay for heaters and for cots and for generators and for whatever people need.
So when we send these buildings out, we can send them out.
All they got to do is open the door, walk in and be blessed and be warm.
So we're seeing that with people coming in to feed people everywhere.
Crews just coming in to help clean up.
It's been beyond anything that I could comprehend.
Definitely a move of God.
And I don't think we're going to be forgotten that quickly because it seems like some people are really just hearing from the voice of the spirit for the first time.
And as long as God is in control and he's got us, I think he'll continue to move on hearts.
And I think that not only includes government.
I believe Donald Trump, President Donald Trump, when he said he would be.
be here immediately and I believe Vice President-elect J.D. Vance when he said they would be here to help believe them but I'm not relying on them I'm relying on our Heavenly Father I'm relying on his provision which he's doing so beautifully through the body of Christ and and so I all I can say is for those of you that have given and donated your time donated money resources to come thank you thank you thank you thank you for
those of you who are being nudged by the Spirit to help us in the future thank you as well we appreciate and love all of you.
And our hope and prayer is that all of you will experience a Christ-filled Christmas.
And may the Spirit of the Lord fill your hearts with His warmth and minister to you in all the ways that you've been ministered to.
God bless you.
Pastor Jim, let me just say that when it first hit, I came through town in the first week of October, shortly, or second week, beginning of the second week of October.
The flood was on the 27th.
The place was way more of a shambles than it is now.
It was chaos.
It was utter chaos.
You can't capture, no amount of cameras you have here can capture the utter and severe devastation that's going on.
We came into town with a handful of generators and whatnot.
I'm from the Living Christ Ministry out of Clarksville, Georgia.
We're neighbors about three hours, two and a half, three hours south of here.
So we came up to help out and see what we could do as first responders.
I'm an Eagle Scout.
I thought, let's do some search and rescue.
We came through Suanano where we met up with the search and rescue team that was going down into the belly of the beast down in the Bat Cave chimney rock area, which was even more devastated than here.
They had 30-foot flood waters, all the rivers all convened to the French broad down there, and over, I think, what, 1,500 mudslides.
So this wasn't just waters raising.
This is waters full of mud and gigantic Volkswagen-style boulders, size boulders, that leveled the landscape and completely decimated everything.
It was horrifying and jaw-dropping is the only way to put it.
And there was a lot of death littered along the banks of the river here, all the way down when we started.
I'm not going to go deep into it, but I was moving mud and ran across some body parts, and it was horrifying.
The level of destruction was just terrible.
And no way to describe it.
I still have bad dreams about it at night with some of the stuff that I've seen.
I've seen stuff no human being should see.
I really don't.
I don't want to go into a whole lot of depth on what I've seen.
But here, we're starting to rebuild.
The Swami Noah has been cleaned up a lot, but the devastation is real, and it's going to be years before we'll build back.
The already, you know, the news is no longer reporting it.
The short attention span theater news no longer is showing what's going on here.
But, and I'm sure you guys have taken a picture of the non-stop devastation around.
This is going to be a project for years that we really are hoping on the benevolence and kindness of neighbors.
If it happened to us down in Clarksville, we would be having this conversation in my front yard.
You know, I'm grateful for the government and FEMA and all what little they're doing, but it's not really as effective.
What's most effective are people with the great hearts and the resources that are bending over backwards to rebuild the community.
The people here are relying on each other.
And, you know, if you've got skills, I've got a friend over there helping me fix a chainsaw.
He, you know, he's a victim here, but he's got a skill that I don't.
And being able to have skills and resources that complement everybody else's skills and resources is what's creating these ad hoc teams out of nothing, out of just total devastation where we can all work together as a team.
And, you know, and at the end of the day, have a meal together.
And it bonds us a little closer and plan for the next day.
And this is not ending magically overnight.
I'm going to, this is my last trip before Christmas.
God bless everybody.
And, you know, I got, but I'm a pastor.
I got to go home and do some church work at home.
You know, pastors work during Christmas.
But I'll be back up.
My target is to keep coming up about twice a month, bringing up generators, bringing up worn clothes, work boots, chainsaws, you know, long bar chainsaws.
We got these 24-inch ranchers, and that's great until you run across a four-foot diameter log.
There are big trees around here, and then too small a chainsaw is dangerous.
You know, if there's people out there, I don't know if the audience out there, if you have somebody with a prowler or whatever, one of these side-by-side, you know, a golf cart on steroids, we're trying to get up into haulers to save lives.
And we're trying to make it a way to rebuild little roads across mudslides and with big blowdowns.
And having something to carry supplies into those people.
You know, rather than have someone's got an old one sitting in their yard, take a tax or donate it to your charity or whatever, take your tax write off for the full amount and get a new one.
And let people here use your old ones.
We've got good redneck engineers.
Can I say that?
Yes.
Okay.
All right.
All right.
There's some good redneck ingenuity.
People can go.
We are MacGyvering together chainsaws to make them work.
And when they burn out, it's still going to be a need.
Three months, six months, a year from now, two years from now, this is not going to fix itself overnight.
The deeper you go down towards Lake Lure, it gets worse.
You will find cabins that have just been uprooted and wrapped around tree stumps.
You'll find huge boulders bigger than Volkswagens that have been washed down out of the mountains and into the middle of roads.
I mean, I have to say that the linemen and the big, you know, the Army Corps engineers and all the big teams and the big equipment are doing a great job.
They're doing those guys, God bless them.
There's a group that comes in with mule trains that has been getting places we can't get to into haulers that are completely blocked off.
Bringing in supplies, bringing in generators, bringing in cases of beanie weenies, whatever it takes to get food, water.
Let me say that mountain folk here are some of the most wonderfully resourceful people who are prepared for off-the-grid living.
We've got, I mean, I don't know what a $750 check is going to do for someone who doesn't have a bank account and a social security number.
But these people, we went into a holler, finally got our way through, and we thought we were the cavalry coming in with generators.
They don't even have electricity.
They run everything off of propane.
And they're like, hey, we heard your chainsaws.
We made some fresh tea.
They're drinking water springing from the earth.
So it's not even fluoridated.
There you go.
They've got chickens.
They're like, how do you want your eggs?
And we're like, well, wait, we've got the quesabini weenies.
And they're like, no, no, no.
We've been living off of chickens and chicken eggs.
They have a couple of dozen hens running around.
There you go.
They've got their little victory garden of crops.
Love it.
You know, whatever.
They've got guns.
They can drop a deer and eat venison.
I'm sure those people can feel dress a deer.
A heartbeat.
In a heartbeat.
So they're strong-spirited.
They have incredible constitution.
They're prepared for off-grid rough living outside of the, you know, we take for granted a dollar general and a shell station on the corner.
They don't have that.
They're used to that.
The other thing they have, let me say this, is that this is Bible Belt.
And these people have a profound faith in God.
And when there's a big difference between happiness, which is feeling good when everything's great, and joy, which is feeling good when everything's falling apart.
And these people have the blessings of joy on them because they're rich in faith.
Love it.
And that Holy Spirit is full of them.
When we went to that young couple and they fed us, we gave them the beanie weeds and we all got together and we sit around praying.
I'm not sure they could read, but boy, oh boy, they knew every page, chapter, and verse of the Holy Bible.
If you're not a believer, that just means your time isn't here yet.
If you want to believe and you want to see the Holy Spirit in action, go to the belly of the beast and see, come here and see what's going on.
I am so full of hope.
I'm so full of joy, even though the devastation makes me cry almost daily.
And the stuff I've seen is horrifying, and I never wish anybody else.
Things are cleaned up now, but the first couple of weeks after, but the spirit is moving strong here.
We're grateful for those people whose faith are motivating them to be a part of this collective effort to restore a thriving and beautiful community.
They can't do it alone.
They need the love and support and generosity of people everywhere to help bring back this community, which is crumbled, but it is in pieces.
And it can, you know what?
Once you hit rock bottom, there's no direction but up.
Praise God.
Merry, Merry Christmas to everybody.
God bless everyone.
Thank you so much.
Kristen Hicks, I am a Suano resident, a mom of four kids, and my husband and I live about a mile up the road from where we're standing.
Our home is okay.
My home is okay.
We were inches away from it pouring into the house, but we were able to kind of get the water away.
So after the rain had stopped, we had went out for a walk.
And, you know, if this kind of, we're in the Shinoa Valley, right?
And so there are hills and different levels of the land that you can go on.
And so we had actually gone up on top of this hill where we could see the river just roaring through here.
And it wasn't, you know, I've got like the mom instinct in me where you've got to do something, you know, and everybody was like, we have to do something.
And there was just very little that we could do, unfortunately, because of the pace of the water, you know, and then the debris and houses, everything in it, you know.
So we, of course, tried.
We got, you know, the life jackets and the ropes and we tied it and we did all we could.
And my husband and my oldest out of four were down here, you know, trying to throw things and help and into the hours.
Because people were screaming?
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
If you go down a little bit, you'll see duplexes and there were people stuck on the top of a roof.
You know, out of the windows.
And then people screaming for help that you couldn't get to.
People in trees.
You know, I mean, we saw people screaming for help that you just can't get to.
And so it was really late because where we were, every road had washed away.
So there was no way somebody could get to us unless they had some kind of rescue boat.
So it was up to the people, you know, who were around to try.
And so we were able to get, I don't want to say me, I was not.
I have three other ones, four total, and so I had to stay with the littles, but my husband and my oldest, among so many other community members, would tie themselves and get to people and help.
And then it was really late, but we finally got some rescue boats out.
Not me.
You know, they got some rescue boats out here and were able to help.
And then it was the aftermath, you know, that is just unfathomable.
I mean, it's like, you know, businesses.
I mean, I've been an entrepreneur for two decades.
And there was a little deli right up the road that had just opened.
There was a tattoo spot just opened.
I mean, There's a mom and pop gas station, a laundromat.
Not talking about the amount of homes, there was a dozen campers or trailers.
One and a half left.
You know, I mean, it was just...
Did it ever sink in?
Were you just so much in the moment that it also sink in to people?
So you knew that they were because when we were out saving you would hear somebody say, "We've lost a child." A child?
So, you know, we heard that a lot.
We heard that a lot.
Not just once.
Right.
Most of the time.
I haven't heard anybody talk about it.
Yeah.
You know, you hear, we just lost a child.
And, you know, they try to reach them and you can't.
And then, you know, of course, you've got adults that are trying to get to people, but the amount of debris and things, they just wipe them out.
They take them right out of walking.
So, yeah, it was absolutely horrifying.
So it's something that I had hoped my kids would never have to witness.
I mean, we didn't visually see, we just heard.
And then it was, you know, I had four kids that after the aftermath, you hear the stories of the schools having to call and check in on each child to make sure that when we do go back to school, everybody in their classroom is present.
You know, and praise the Lord, all of my children and their classmates were okay.
But there were a lot of kids that did not have that experience.
You know, they lost classmates.
They lost teachers.
How many do we know of?
I don't know.
And I would hate to say that number because there's been so many.
103 total dead, we're being told by the government.
Right.
103 total.
Yeah, I call.
BF.
Yeah.
So, you know, but I would say, but I would say out of all of this, a lot of good has come out of it.
And that's kind of what we're focusing on is the rebuilding, the people, the resources, the donations, the building.
You know, it's just going to take some time.
You know, it's going to take some time.
And it's also the holidays.
So we're trying to help with that, to keep everybody's spirits up.
But, you know, there's been a lot of organizations, which I understand, that have to get back home to their families, to their loved ones, who have been out here for so long, and now they've got to get back home.
And so after the beginning of the year, you know, we're probably going to see some decline in donations and support, but that's, I think, the goal here is to just continue to spread the word.
have lots of work to be done.
I think from a so By no means do it by myself.
We have volunteers, we have people donating.
Like if it was just me, it would have already been shut down.
Like I cannot do it.
But I do sense frustration from people who come into the area who say, I hear people talking that you need all of these things, but now we don't want to take it.
And it's like, guys, we have limited warehouse space.
The people who we're giving it to have limited space and tents and RVs.
So the people that are distributing can only give out so much at so long, right?
So from a distribution point of view, we ask for patience because it's going to be something long for the long haul.
We're getting a new blessing yard, a little bit more space, we're getting some more storage so that hopefully we can figure out where, you know, what the most needed essentials are.
And our next goal is a blessing bus.
So we're trying to raise money.
We're in the process of raising funds right now.
And that blessing bus will help get all of the essentials out to the people who can't get to us.
So once we can make that happen, buy the bus, get it full, take it round, you know, we will be able to get the supplies out quicker so that those donations can be then restocked.
You know, I get people frustrated when I can't take them so much.
It's like once it's building materials and tools, then it becomes furniture.
And then it becomes mattresses.
And then it, you know, I've never been through this type of thing in my life, but what I've learned very quickly is that the needs change and we have to learn to pivot and adjust.
And we need the people who are looking to help to do the same.
You know, connect with an organization, connect with somebody, and say, what are the needs?
And how fast can we get it to you before those needs change?
You know?
And that just takes some patience and some people that are willing to work with us.
How much do you need for that blessed bus?
What is that blessed bus going to call?
Yeah, it was $30,000.
The owners have changed it to $26,000 for us, which is very nice.
$26,000.
I do have to get it wrapped because right now it has like a graphic on it for their business.
So, and then it's kind of far.
So we've got to travel and get it here.
So we have budgeted $30,000.
$30,000 for the budget.
$30,000.
And so far we have 15.
So we have a website.
It's theblessingproject.org.
We are officially a 501c3.
So yeah, so I mean, and we're just believing that God's going to provide.
He will.
He will.
I mean, he does.
And it's been put on my heart.
And so we're going to see it through.
And, you know, I don't worry about it.
I just don't worry about it.
Give him the glory.
He'll bless us.
That's right.
That's right.
So we're excited about it, and we're excited to get to people who can't get to us.
We hear that often.
You know, they want to come, they need to find that they can't get to us.
And so, the blessing bus hopefully will do that.
Many blessings.
We will.
Amen.
I love the Lord.
I love the Lord.
And to celebrate the birth of Jesus and to be able to share his goodness is all that we can ever hope for.
You know, so it's an honor to be his hands and feet.
So, we will continue to do so.
Merry Christmas!
I wasn't here when it happened.
I came the next day after it happened, and it looked like there was never a house going here.
Just looked like a bank to the river.
That's what it looked like.
Everything was gone.
I was amazed.
I didn't even walk down here.
I stopped at the road and was like, wow.
Your home was on this property, right?
No, I lived with Joe.
Okay.
Joe's home was gone.
Yes.
Joe's, Dara's, Booby's was gone.
Yeah, just like it was never here.
Nothing that's all of it.
All of them.
All of them.
Except for the footers.
How'd you feel when you first saw it?
I didn't really know what to feel.
I was just like utter just disbelief is what it was.
And that's when I just got done talking to the guy about the dam, about them telling someone about clearing the road.
And he was telling me about how they didn't tell nobody else and all this stuff.
And he's pretty informative.
And then I come down here and I've seen it.
I didn't believe it when I was told that all this was gone.
So I came there for myself and just was amazed.
I wasn't, to say, I don't know if that's a good word for it.
So what do you, how do you live now?
I live in a pop-up tent, a pop-up camper right now.
So that's my home for now.
Who provided that to you?
Kristen, the lady you just interviewed with the blessing barn.
That was a blessing.
She gave me a little bit of a breath.
Hey, she even gave me the building.
She got me the building.
I just told her I needed storage bins.
All wanted one.
She brought your whole building.
Had it delivered and everything.
Absolutely.
That is a great person, man.
She tries to help so much with four kids on top of that.
It's beautiful how the communities come together.
It is.
You know, she's the only person that I know of that's came down here to help that's from here.
Really.
I'm sure there has been more, but I hadn't seen them myself.
So I know she came down here and she said, I'm going to make it better than what you have.
And she absolutely has.
She was a word.
She kept the word.
Absolutely.
She kept the word on everything she does.
So what do you do now?
Me, I've been trying to work.
All my tools and stuff got washed away, but I haven't been able to work much either.
My truck just got stole, like I said.
So it's been hard.
You just lost your truck.
Your truck was stolen.
It's been tough, but it's all right.
It happens.
Stuff happens for a reason.
Something bigger and better might come along.
Who knows?
So I try not to get discouraged.
I wake up with a smile on my face every day, whether I'm happy or not.
I try to make myself happy.
There's no use going around here being all the time.
That's it.
Party people.
So what's Christmas look like for you this year?
I spend it with my daughter.
My 21-year-old daughter down the mountain, so I spend it with her.
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas.
Well, I've been in this store about a year and a half.
How about in this North Carolina?
28 years.
Well, if you can imagine, first of all, seeing a container, a tractor trailer sitting on top of a Wendy's roof.
That's how high the water was in the village, in the river district.
Things that were just piled on top of each other, tractor trailers in the river upside down.
Buildings that used to be there completely gone, nothing but rubble.
Shells of buildings that did survive.
At least a shell, but nothing out there.
They just went down the river.
Trees on top of houses everywhere.
Mud four feet thick in people's houses.
It was the road gone, completely gone.
It was amazing.
I've never seen it like it ever.
And yeah, they're doing some cleanup, but when you first looked at it, it was like the war is going to look like Ukraine.
People just bombed the place.
And especially around the river.
Now, the river is really, there's a river over there that used to be 20 feet wide, now it's 40 feet wide.
The reservoir is completely taken out of all the water lines.
Pretty bad.
Pretty bad.
kind of heartbroken, really, for the people that were My house didn't get a big tree, 100-foot oak tree fell in the lawn, but it didn't hit us.
We were inconvenienced, but I was on high ground.
But I just trying to imagine the people that were washed down the river, the lives that were lost, houses that were no longer there, families broken up, pets gone, horses, cattle just gone.
I mean, it was just hard to take.
Well, not to get into a big long story, but I was a drug addict until I was 27.
I'm at the Lord and Rescue Mission in California.
And ever since then, my life has changed.
Obviously for the better.
So what happened here is when this is my store, and what happened here is when the church was trying To find a place to set up their operations, and the city wasn't cooperating at all.
So I donated my field in my parking lot.
And then they had hundreds and hundreds of volunteers.
We had a trailer set out there.
You have a shower station, I think.
Shower station, laundry, cooking food, tents, supplies, hundreds of volunteers.
And it was amazing.
It was amazing.
And everybody here was God sent them.
He just took care of the need.
And the churches responded appropriately without getting political much faster than the government did.
And they really did a tremendous job.
They came together.
They came together.
And for me, it was a renewal of faith for me, too.
So it was like a double blessing.
People who have come through here at the store and I've talked to them, they said, well, we were going to go on vacation.
And then we saw the news and we thought, no, we're going to go there and help.
They need their help more than we need a vacation.
We always take a vacation.
And so what I've seen is just, I mean, literally hundreds of volunteers gave their time, their effort, their money to help out and take care of the less fortunate.
And that's what's caused me.
And these are not people that are looking for any kind of recognition or credit.
They're just doing it.
Do you know what's the right thing to do?
What's Christmas look like for North Carolina this year?
Well, the reason for the season, number one, if we keep our eyes on that, I think we'll be okay.
There's going to be a lot of people displaced that still don't have homes, living in tents, doing the best we can to help them out.
You know, everybody here is doing the best they can.
It's going to be bad for some folks, but especially the ones who have lost their loved ones.
That's going to be tough.
And everything else.
Everything.
It's going to be tough.
But we'll get through it.
We always do.
Would you put God first?
Thank you, man.
My name is Billy William.
I'm currently staying right here, but I am from Swarninoa.
I was staying with my dad on Bea Tree, which is hit pretty hard.
I walked up that road and it was a river.
To get my dogs, I was waist deep, man.
Waterless like this.
This is, I mean, everything you see is an improvement to what it was directly after.
There used to be a house right here, actually, where we're standing.
There used to be a house right there.
That house blew into the side of that house.
It looked like one big house.
But the other Billy with the skid steer, he cleared all that up for us, you know.
And that whole ditch over there was full of people's stuff that was in the houses and everything.
It was like, it's a war zone.
I mean, yeah, it's the best, you know, like best example because it's not like with Katrina where, you know, they come in and like the water's still standing, you know, and then you got all this stuff that's all flooded and swamped.
And then, you know, you get these people trying to avoid the water up on the roof.
This is like the water came, it took everything with it and just left behind wreckage, you know.
Like you took a steamroller and just knocked everything down and left what was left of it, you know.
I still know places where you can go through the woods along the side of the river.
It's like hard to access because you can't get no equipment or vehicles down there.
Just debris, man.
I mean, in Old Fort, there's debris piles like taller than these roofs, man.
I mean, I'm talking about like up there, like way up there.
Like there's connexes sticking out of them and big like gas tanks, you know, like the big tanker tanks, like where they just sticking out of them.
That's how big the debris piles are, man.
It's like a whole shipping crate just sticking out of it like a straw.
You know what I mean?
It's a pretty, pretty crazy, man.
Way better than I had expected.
It's like there's still a lot of like, you can't, okay, so yeah, there's an old Native American story.
It's called, you know, the, um, it's the turtleneck scorpion or whatever.
And basically the moral of the story is you can't change the nature of a scorpion, you know.
So like, you know, you just got to trust people to be who they are, you know.
And sometimes if you have people that were doing, you know, foul things before the storm happened, you can't expect them to tighten up because they just see it like a golden opportunity, you know what I mean?
Like they're, you know, like, I don't even have to smash.
I can just grab, you know what I mean?
You know, so it's, you know, it's chaotic to a point, but I've seen so much generosity that I didn't expect from, you know, I was expecting it to end up like a war zone, you know, like people to be shooting at each other and, you know, robbing each other and all kinds of stuff.
And it was like the exact opposite.
And I'm thankful for that.
You know, it brought a lot of communities, like parts of the community back together.
Like people didn't talk like they used to.
Like when I was little, this was, when I was little, you could leave your doors unlocked and stuff.
You know, if somebody got in your stuff, it was because they were rolling your window up.
You know what I mean?
Now, if somebody got in your car at night, you ain't going to have anything that was in there worth anything.
Since the storm, though, there's a lot of people that you wouldn't expect to see helping anybody, helping people.
And that's good.
People are doing everything for us, man.
I've been thankful that the past couple days, I was able to go with the guy who did all the clearing that I mentioned, his name's also Billy, up to this other place because there's a place in Fairview, man.
It's like there's a big, nice creek water system coming down through it.
And that was like a landslide because it just completely covered the road.
It was different than any landslide I've ever seen, man.
Like it's usually with a landslide, it's like the bottom soil ends up on top.
In this situation, it's like the dirt washed out from underneath it.
And then the top soil, like all the root systems and everything of the small plants and stuff, just like laid back on top of it like a carpet.
So it's like you can't even tell where the road was and most of the distance.
And then all the trees and stuff that fell all ended up like bunched up and piled up in parts of the road and in the creek and causing backflow.
And so like I've been the only cut man keeping up with three pieces of heavy equipment.
Like I'm the only guy running the saw and keeping up with them so they can keep it cleared out, you know, keep it moving.
You know, that's not an easy task, you know.
Look like a ninja down there.
But today I was like, I just wasn't feeling it.
I told them that.
And I'm glad because I got the call about my grandma.
She's got a leak in an aneurysm that she had surgery on a couple years back.
She's got a leak in her brain.
She told another member of our family that she don't feel like she's going to make it past Christmas.
It's just one hit after another for me, man.
Yeah, and it gets worse, man.
So there's other stuff I got going on I don't even talk about because it's just like matters of the heart, I guess.
So aside from things looking a lot different around here, it ain't much different than what I went through my whole life.
Sometimes if it wasn't for the pain, I wouldn't know I was alive.
You know what I mean?
My life's never been easy, man.
I guess that's how I deal with it.
Crying ain't going to do me no good.
I just keep trying to do something about it.
The more I try to do about it, the harder the task of doing something about it gets.
I'm very religious, man.
It's like I can't really put my faith to a certain denomination of Christianity or of any religion for that matter because I feel like all the holy books, man, they teach the same thing, man.
It's like if you're not a Satanist or whatever, you're being taught to do the right thing by your fellow man, to just be a good person for the sake of being a good person, it don't matter what you get from it.
What matters is the content of your character and your heart.
They all teach the same thing.
It's like you can take a name, all right, and in this language it'll sound completely different than it does in our language.
I feel like everybody's praying to the same God and they've been fighting wars for thousands of years over agreeing with each other.
I mean, that's what I feel about religion.
I'm not going to tell anybody what they believe is wrong, as long as they don't tell me what I believe is wrong.
What are you going to do for Christmas?
I'm going to go to my other grandmother's house and stuff because everybody's supposed to meet there and do the whole family thing.
As far as Christmas cheer goes, I'm not a Grinch or Ebenezer or nothing, but just be thankful that there's a lot down here in Western North Carolina.
We're celebrating the fact that we still have lives, that we're celebrating the fact that we still have a community, even though it was almost wiped off the face of the earth.
We're celebrating the things that everybody takes for granted.
So be thankful that you get to take them for granted this year.
No, not really.
But be thankful that you don't have to go through the disasters right now.
It's like hold your family and be glad you have them because some people don't this year.
Some people are thinking about their friends that are gone because the whole family is gone.
I guess that's more of a Thanksgiving thing to do, but I'll just be glad you have them.
My name's Ian, and this is Valley Strong Disaster Relief at Silverado's.
we're a supply hub for the people affected by Hurricane Helene.
How long have you been doing this?
Since day three of the storm.
It looked pretty similar to what it did now after the storm other than the driveway and stuff here was washed away.
We had to grade this all out.
But you go through Swannanoa, it still looks pretty rough like it did two and a half months ago.
Well, you know, the whole country's came together to provide for us here.
We've had several organizations help out and a lot of private citizens to make sure that we're able to take care of all of these people.
Well, what do you got going on here today?
We have a toy drive going today or toy giveaway going on where we gave away toys to 2,100 kids yesterday and we're doing it again for the next couple days.
Where are all the donations special going up?
So we team with Toys for Tots on that one and then the rest of it's just private citizens bringing stuff up to donate.
How would you encourage me for Christmas time?
Just do what your heart desires.
You know, if you felt led to give, then give.
If not, you know, just do what you can.
Any last things you'd like to do?
Just thank you to everybody who's helped contribute to our mission this whole time.
I'm Megan.
I've lived in North Carolina for 15 years.
I was originally from Florida, but I've lived in Asheville for roughly 15 years now.
My core values are my family.
That's...
I...
Sorry.
Might get a little emotional.
I don't have much family up here.
So my unit that I have here is what my focus always is.
It's always making sure everybody's happy, healthy, you know, all of that.
These little, yeah, the little voices that you hear in the background, that's what keeps me going every day.
I lived in Florida for 15 years.
The last hurricane I went through was Hurricane Charlie.
And that was traumatizing in itself.
But going through what we went through and having our children in the middle of it was a whole different level.
The lady we talked to earlier said it was something that what struck with me is she said when the kids went back to school, they had to take a roll call to see what kids were not going to make it back.
That broke my heart.
It broke my heart, I mean, for anybody who dealt with any type of loss from the storm because I've never, I've heard like Katrina and, you know, like that, but in this area, I never would have imagined that we would get hit the way we did.
And it, and seeing it and being right in the middle of something that was a once-in-a-lifetime event for this area, it was very traumatizing, even as an adult.
I mean, I know my children experienced it and they handled it differently, but they still, there's little triggers still from that day that like the wind blows a little too hard, they can't go to school because they start panicking.
But it was, it was a day, that's for sure.
I know like families and individuals, the communities have come together.
The rebuilding of Asheville is, it's going to take years.
And I don't know if there's enough manpower in Asheville to rebuild what that storm destroyed.
I mean, there's Biltmore is still closed.
You know, there's still half of Tunnel Road is still closed.
So, you know, there's, I just don't, I don't, I don't know.
Okay.
Um.
Wow.
Well, Jason, who put you in touch with me, my nine-year-old's teacher gave me a social worker's phone number and she said, you know, call her and she knows some people who are doing, you know, fundraising for families and, you know, just see if that's an option that's still available.
So I completely forgot about it.
And I called her about a week later.
And I said, you know, I was just, Ms. Keeney told me, you know, you guys, you knew somebody that was helping families and, you know, FEMA's been slow rolling and, you know, we're still trying to get, you know, through all of that.
And she said, you know, send an email to this person and they'll get in touch with you.
And Jason was a blessing in disguise, big time.
He wrote us a $10,000 check and came and talked to me and my husband for a while.
And I mean, that's at a time where we kind of needed it more than anything.
And me and my husband's job, they got us a place to stay for a month after the storm.
And people delivering water to us and making sure that we had everything that we needed.
I mean, this whole, since September 27th, people have been non-stop almost to the point where it's overwhelming.
But it's been a good thing.
It's an overwhelming good because you don't normally see people who are that kind on a regular day.
And it kind of made me sad that it took something like this to bring such a large area and community together.
And, you know, so many people to lose everything, including their life, for people to become one.
Because everybody's so separate these days.
But to become one unit to help each other, it took something this devastating to do that.
What are you going to do for Christmas?
We are going to stay right here.
This is our home for now.
And we're going to celebrate our Christmas morning like we do every year.
And, you know, any people who watch this, don't lose faith.
Merry Christmas.
My name's Scotty Swan.
I'm 54.
Grew up Black Mountain Old Fort.
It was just more of values and respect.
That's what everybody was raised on.
You know?
Everybody took care of each other and looked out for each other.
Everybody knew each other.
My childhood friends were spinning about.
I left them alone.
I went to the Marine Corps and was gone for a while.
Went around the world and stuff.
Came back home.
And then, yeah.
And then here we are today.
This is one of the things that happens to me that happens to me.
It's like about 8.49.
I was walking down the street and it was like maybe up to the shoes.
And by 9.49, I was on top of that house behind you.
And it was already halfway up the windows.
Me and my girlfriend were standing inside and we went up the stairs and then there was a door that goes down on the booth and we got out on the booth.
I was standing on top of this truck when they got us in the connection by the server from with the s with the rescue.
So literally where we're at right now, we'd be on the water stuff.
Have you ever experienced anything like that before?
Um not the fuck Like, I've seen this kind of stuff, just from being in the Marine Corps and being in different areas and overseas, but, you know, nothing like this flood.
Oh, no, nothing could prepare any of us for what happened.
I mean, it happened so quick, there was no warning.
It was like a flash flood warning, but I told you, like, it was less than 50 minutes.
It was from the ground up, you know, to my ceilings in the house behind it.
So, they rescued you at a canoe.
What happened at that point?
Where did you go?
They took everybody on this street.
They took us to Hardy's over there because it's up on higher ground.
Then what did you do?
We all stayed at Hardy's and then the water got up to the sidewalk, so we broke a lock off the back and was going to maybe get on the roof, but luckily the water started deciding.
And then within about almost three hours, the water was back down and just walked back home.
Because once the underpass at 40 got clogged up with debris, all this just filled in like a lake.
They ain't got no drainage over here for the highway, except that.
So once they clogged that, this just backed up and filled in.
I parked like five cars at that school up there, and they all gone.
Anything washed away?
Oh, yeah.
Okay, we're going to air this on Christmas morning, but good stuff has happened.
Oh, yeah, man.
I'll tell you what, you know, hey, my story is just one of many, right?
I mean, it's people that lost lives and family members.
That's the people that we really need to think about.
And, you know, us that are still here, you know, we can rebuild.
And I'm going to tell you what, without our fellow Americans and brothers and sisters, we couldn't do it.
You know, that's what showed up here every day.
That's what's helped us get back on our feet.
Our Marine Corps Brotherhood, we riding the motorcycle club.
We're all honorably discharged Marines and FMF Corpsmen and all the way up and down the East Coast, man.
They've been here bringing supplies, brought toys for toys for Tots, dropped off at Marion, Old Fort, and Asheville.
Then another crew came down, brought heaters and propane and longjohns and toys.
So, you know, that, and like I said, just neighbors and friends and family stepping up and helping each other.
That's what does it.
And those people that are out there that come and, you know, you set up and you cook a meal for somebody on a Saturday in a town like Old Fort, that goes a long way, man.
We appreciate that.
You know, you see that stuff dying off around here.
It goes on over Bungham County where Asheville and all that is.
But you come down here and it's not as much.
So do you have any electricity over here?
Yeah, I got electricity.
What are you going to do?
So working on this house here and hopefully within a month to two months be back in that house.
Which house is yours?
Actually, both.
I lived there, but this is my great-grandmother's house over here.
Over there?
And that one didn't get hit as bad, so we're fixing that house.
Yeah, my house over there got pretty much devastated.
It's going to have some major repairs.
This one didn't need as much, so we've gutted that and on our way to getting that one back in shape.
Do you have any help?
Oh, yeah.
We have some help.
Like I said, those brothers in the Marine Corps, they've came down, they brought us lumber, they brought tools.
This guy, Mr. Jeff, out of the Concord area near Monroe area, him and his guys, they come up every Saturday and donates his labor man comes up.
Then we're trying to get the house up to a certain point and then Grace Church and Baptist On Mission is going to come in and help us.
We just had to get it to a safe level for them to come in.
But Jason came and helped you too, right?
Yes, sir.
Yep, Jason came and helped us.
Yep.
Yeah, I mean, just so many people, man.
just groups, you know, churches, lots of church groups.
I'm going to tell you, that's been...
They'll feed you, clothe you, take care of you.
That's what it's supposed to be.
That's it.
But I'm telling you, that's for real right there.
You won't go without anything if you go there and you won't go wrong.
All right, what are you going to do for Christmas?
I'm probably going to go see my kids and my two grandsons.
Love it.
I haven't left here since the flood, but I think I'm going to get away for a little bit.
Go see them for a few days and then I'll come back.
Talk about faith and family.
What does that mean to you, brother?
Faith and family.
I mean, you know, family is the biggest thing to me.
And family ain't just blood, you know what I mean?
Like I said, those brothers and sisters I've met through this, man, that I consider family.
Now, you know, we have the way we roll, if you're in our circle, man, you're family anyway.
There you go.
You know, in faith and in believing and all the blessings and the help we've gotten and couldn't do it without that.
You know what I mean?
Couldn't do it without it.
The good Lord's definitely helped and watched out for us.
You know, this may be a wake-up call for everybody.
Shake them up a little bit.
I hope so.
You know?
Keep giving him the glory.
He'll continue to bless us, brother.
That's it.
Yep.
And I appreciate myself and everybody in the town of Old Ford in Western North Carolina, people that's gotten help.
I know I speak for everybody.
We appreciate everything, man.
Merry Christmas.
Hope everybody has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Enjoy your friends and family and stay motivated, America.
You know, within two days after you texted me, Jason and mine were at our doorstep this morning with a check for a brand new van.
Are you kidding?
No, I'm not kidding.
And he gave us $15,000.
It was such a good little boy.
I can't even tell you.
It was a miracle.
I told my kids.
Every time they went out, I was like, what are we going to get a car?
When are we going to get a car?
I said, I don't know, but God has been faithful.
He's been faithful these past few months.
And he's going to make a way.
I don't know how, but he's going to do it.
And I literally said that the night before you texted me.
And I had no idea.
But I just wanted to tell you and thank you and just tell you how overjoyed we are right now at the Lord and his providence and the blessing.
Can I put this out there?
Because people need to see this.
People need to know that people will come together.
This is God.
God's doing all this together.
My name is Valerie Hubbard, and I've lived in Western North Carolina for a year and a half, but we also total three years.
Yeah, we're originally from New England, but we moved down to this area.
We tell people when they ask us.
We're social, political, and economic refugees from the North.
So how's North Carolina, other than this situation, how's it treated you?
How do you like North Carolina?
We love it.
We love it.
Everything I was taught, honestly, as a northerner, they're racist, they're backwards, you know, is not true.
Not true.
Some of the best people I've met have been down here.
Just salt of the earth.
Good people.
Yeah, you've got bad people everywhere.
You know, you've got problems everywhere.
But the majority of people that I met are just genuine and just good-hearted people.
Well, we just felt like it was such a miracle that we even got to live in the part of the country that we did in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
It was paradise.
If I showed you pictures where we lived, it was peaceful.
It was beautiful.
It was, you know, my boys, it was a boys' wonderland, you know, hiking in the mountains and hunting.
I grew up in a city and I just, I didn't want that for my kids.
I wanted them to feel free and have an independent mindset.
And it was just beautiful.
We used to go in the river all the time, swimming, fishing.
We tried kayaking, that didn't work out too well, but just loved the community down there.
I loved being out in nature and loved the people we got to interact with.
We were living down by the river across the street from, you know, our neighbors across the street had the river running behind their house.
And we knew there was a storm coming.
We had prepared, you know, we have water and alternative water.
We had generator stuff.
Our power would go out pretty frequently with storms.
So we knew we were in for something.
But the night before the storm, it was Thursday night, the fire chief came down and mandatorily evacuated or, you know, told everybody to leave on the other side of the road.
We were about 50 feet up from the street where we lived.
So we asked him, we said, should we leave?
And should we stay?
And he said, well, that's your call.
It's not forced.
But, you know, you'll probably lose power and stuff.
But we said, we're good.
And he said, the floodplain, 100 years, never reached the street.
You'll be fine.
So like, okay, cool.
So we hunkered down and got our candles and generators ready.
But that night, there was one family that was directly across the street from us.
They were gone.
The fire marshal was there.
And I told my boys, I said, look out for them when they come back.
We got to tell them, we got to tell them to leave.
They came back.
They were really upset.
They had to leave, but they packed up anyway.
And the next morning, we slept in the living room just so we could be closer to the river to kind of keep an air out.
And I woke up at 6.30 in the morning to the sound of raging river, very close.
And I got up and I saw the river floating through all my neighbors' houses from my front porch.
And I just thought, oh my gosh, this.
I woke my husband up and we were both kind of in shock and just said, we got to make a plan.
What do we do?
So we were packing up backpacks and saying our neighbor was a firefighter and we just said if he's gone, which he probably is, we'll, you know, we'll hike up to his house.
And even if we have to stay in his back porch, you know, we'll be safer 50 feet up.
So as we were doing that and making preparations, he came banging on our door and just all distraught that he was stuck.
He slept in.
He couldn't believe this.
He was in shock.
He's like, I got to get up to the station.
But if, you know, I'm going to go hike up the mountain.
I'm going to get to work.
But if y'all need my house, I'll leave it unlocked.
If the river comes any closer.
Within an hour, the river had come 50 feet up from the road and about eight to ten feet up to the top of our porch.
And we fled.
We headed up to his house and we were so thankful we had that to go to.
We were at his house for about an hour just settling in, keeping the kids calm, watching out his bay windows.
And he came back just drenched in like mud and water.
And this is a guy who's a firefighter, kayaker, hiker, knew all the trails.
And he came back looking like he'd seen a ghost.
And we said, Billy, what's wrong?
And he says, Ain't nobody's getting out of here today.
So, anyway, long story short, we stayed with him on and off for three days.
After the floodwaters receded, we were able to go back to the house at night.
But during the day, we stayed there because he had the power and water.
And we watched that first day as every single house from fish top down for about a mile and a half washed up, broke apart, trees came down, houses blew up, and it was devastating.
We saw our family van flooded and didn't know if the house was going to go because the water was halfway up my driveway, halfway past my house.
And anyway, the waters receded.
We were really thankful.
And when my husband and him went out to basically see the damage that it had done, they just could not believe.
They went out and took pictures of the road.
It was just gone.
It was just absolutely gone.
So am I telling too many details?
Yeah.
So basically that first night we hunger down.
That night they went out looking for neighbors.
Is anybody alive?
Is the road intact?
They found 12 other people within two miles both way.
And Billy said, I got to get word up there.
As soon as I can hike up there, up the mountain tomorrow, I'm going to go.
Second day, he hiked up and he literally risked his life.
He was our guardian angel.
And he hiked up and he had to hike through mudslides because he couldn't see any of the trails of trees everywhere.
The switchback coming down our road was completely washed out and boulders were everywhere.
When he came back, he had mud up to here.
And we said, what happened to you?
And he said, I got stuck.
I couldn't get out.
I was up to here.
And he says, I fought my way out to get word up at the top of the mountain.
It usually took him about an hour and a half to hike up.
That day it took four and a half hours.
But he reached the fire chief who was at the top because they knew something had happened down there.
And there's all kinds of emergency vehicles and people.
And he said, look, we got to get a trapper down there.
The road's gone.
There's like 12 to 15 people that we know of just in a few miles.
It's a 10-mile road that are trapped.
And half of them are senior citizens.
Half of them is our family, you know, us with our kids.
He came back down that day.
We kind of just debriefed and drank some wine and talked and tried to keep the kids calm, thankful for our lives.
And I told my kids, you know, we can lose everything, but if we have each other, that's all that matters.
And that night, that second night we were down there, it was amazing.
We saw lights coming through the woods.
We're like, who the heck is that?
It was like 8.39 at night.
And all of a sudden, hey, it's just us.
We're from Greenville.
We heard you guys were all in trouble.
We love it down here.
And we just brought our Starlink to see if anybody needed to make contact with anybody outside the cove.
And we were just like, you did that for us?
And they went up and down.
I mean, they traversed the broken street and through the woods to bring Starlinks to these people.
So I was able to telephone, we're alive, we're trapped, send help.
The third day, the plan was basically have a backpack.
You know, he said by the third day, we're going to run out of propane, we're going to run out of provisions, we've got to get out.
So we're either going to hike out here or they're going to send a helicopter, but we have no promise of that.
So him and a crew of a couple guys in the community and kayaking community cleared a path probably about a mile long from his house through the woods and the mountain to get us to a road so that we could hitchhike, not hitchhike, hike up the switchbacks.
He comes back after four and a half hours and he's like, I got some good news and some bad news.
I said, okay, what's the bad news?
He said, well, the bad news is we just broke our backs for four and a half hours trying to make a trail for y'all.
And the good news is they send in a helicopter in 45 minutes, a mile and a half that way, we got to go now.
And so him and like three other volunteers hiked us out who had already walked the trail because, I mean, the road, there was broken road, there was wires down, there was, you know, my neighbor's house that was across the street was a mile down the road, in the road.
And where we were going up to a bridge, the road had been washed out 50 feet.
Basically, hiked out with our backpacks and our kids and climbed up a 20-foot pile of debris, road debris, to get to a ladder to get onto these massive trees that had fallen onto the bridge.
And those trees saved our lives.
The bridge held, but the river was totally redirected.
It used to go this way and it went this way.
So I'm Italian.
I talk with my hands, sorry.
But anyway, we climbed up one by one.
The volunteers were up there helping us get up and the whole bridge, probably 30-foot bridge, just covered in trees and debris that had washed down.
And finally made it off the bridge, got to a field, the only field on that road.
And the helicopter came about 20 minutes later and brought our family and about four other people.
And the sweetest thing, there was an elderly couple that we just knew a little bit.
And we met them and I just said, hello, and how you doing, you know, at the meeting place at the field.
And I said, oh, you're the man with the oxygen tank that was running out.
I said, I've been praying for you.
And he said, yo, with the kids, right?
He said, I've been praying for you.
I'm like, oh, I love you.
And we all hugged.
And it was really a beautiful moment.
But I've never understood what people talk about, you know, leaving and, you know, the relief that you feel coming off that helicopter.
But as that helicopter was flying out and you could just see disaster, like a nuclear bomb went off.
It was like the relief to be flying out of there and to have escaped.
All I could think about was the psalm that says, We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the flower.
The snare is broken, and we have escaped.
Blessed be the Lord.
It's heartbreaking.
I would say at least half of the road is undistinguishable.
You know, once you get a few miles down, it's just a lot better than it was two months ago.
These temporary roads, and some people, all volunteers, have shored up some things, cleared some bridges, reinforced some roads that were just on the sides of the mountain there.
And there has been some debris cleared and some houses that were on our side of the road that were supposed to get flooded helped cleaned up, but still it's devastated.
There's dozens and dozens of homes gone.
Dozens and dozens of homes destroyed.
And just debris and a lot of work left to be done.
I have a book of miracles someday I'm going to write.
I've been journaling since two days after we got out.
I said, I got to journal.
I got to write this down.
And I want to write every blessing, every little thank you, every day.
And the first couple days it was, thank you, God, for that woman in the store who asked me how I was.
And she hugged me and we cried.
Thank you, God, for that man who just didn't even know me but saw me across the, you know, the restaurant in Saluda and just probably was an out-of-towner and just paid for my mail anonymously.
All the way up to, you know, volunteers that I met when we went to go clean out the house and, you know, get rid of 80% of our stuff and kind of assess damage.
I met this gal from a church, South Carolina, just volunteering.
She stayed in contact with me.
She reached out to me a dozen times and she said, you know, what do you need?
My church wants to do something.
What do you need?
Do you need this?
Do you need that?
We have people praying for you and we know that the holidays are going to be hard.
So their church has never met us before.
They really sponsored our whole family.
And every Christmas present you see under that tree is from them.
And it's just a small little like 60-person church.
I just want to tell everybody, Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas.
And it's all about family.
And I've got a new family here and a family all over North Carolina.
So thank you, God.
Thank you so very much.
Thank you.
Love you, sir.
He puts us solitary in families.
Thanks, you know.
Mm-hmm.
Thank you.
Guys, that was an amazing film, some of some amazing people that put God first.
And they gave all the glory to God.
They had nothing.
And God continues to deliver over and over and over again.
And that's what happens when you put God first.
And I hope this touched your heart like it did mine because these people now are part of my family.
And a lot of you don't have family and are sitting there alone and watching this.
You know, reach out.
Call me.
God told me to take every phone call, return every text.
My number is 561-329-8434.
Call me.
Please.
You have no idea how many phone calls I took during COVID and I loved it.
He didn't say anything about texting me.
I mean, emailed me, so don't email me, please.
But guys, please help these people here in North Carolina.
If your heart's been put on you to give, we're going to build 500 homes.
We will build 500 homes for 500 families.
If you want to make any kind of donation, you go to givesandgo forward slash Christ.
Never forget, Christ is Key NC.
Christ is Key NC.
And if you want to check out what we got going on, ChristisKey.life is the website.
And you can watch this every day at ChristIsKey 111.
Never forget, Jesus Christ is Key.
Plain and simple.
I want to give all the glory to God.
He will continue to bless us.
And in closing, I want to say Merry Christmas.
Love you guys and God bless.
Love you guys and God bless.
Love you guys and God bless.
Love you guys and God bless.
The years go by, reflected in the window pane, fading high.
The years go by, reflected in the window pane, fading high.
The years go by, reflected in the window pane, fading high.
Time will save us, days that changed us.
Memories made, though time may part.
Days that changed us, time may part.
Days that changed us, time may part.
We've lived in a lie, ever since the formula bottle.
Desensitized, everything we knew about our problems.
And now we're all roaming the land, saying how did this big lie start?
It's time to put our faith in Him,'cause it's gone too far.
Oh, I believe He died for me, and for everyone.
Anything can be achieved, when you count on God.
Who's gonna take the lead, by putting their life on the light?
Who's gonna show the children, what is wrong and what is right?
Who's gonna take the lead, by putting their life on the light?
Who's gonna show the children, what is wrong and what is right?
Don't blow blood of Christ Washes everything by the minute The sheep are blind All because their mind is a prison And now they're all roaming the land Saying how did this big lie start?
It's time they put their faith in me Okay guys, that that was an amazing documentary about God about faith and about family and I hope it touched you the way it touched me and It shows what happens when we all come together We forget about government because government has done nothing for these people and we give the glory to God and when you do that God allows amazing things to happen and and this documentary has been brought to you by my redlighttherapy.com
And Jonathan Otto is a very good friend.
And as you heard in the beginning, my father has prostate cancer.
And I know there's a lot of turbo cancers, many cancers out there.
And all your family members are going through this.
And a lot of them are going to the American Medical Association, who I believe is satanic, luciferian.
And I believe there's other ways to deal with these things.
And I want Jonathan to come on here and tell you about my red light therapy that's very possible and probable that could help those of you that have cancer, more importantly, prostate cancer.
So, Jonathan, is there anything out there that can help that is not about the American Medical Association and not about chemotherapy and radiation that could give these people hope, brother?
Christopher, I really appreciate you.
And I love what you're doing.
Your tenacity, your bravery, your resolve to make the world better and to be a part of the solution for these families that need you more than anyone else right now.
It's just beautiful.
It's inspiring.
And I'm just grateful for you.
I'm grateful to be a part of this and to be helping to support the creation of this film through backing this with amazing products that are changing and saving lives.
There's nothing that brings more joy to my heart.
And I do feel a kindred spirit with you.
I've been doing work in northern Kenya for the last 13 years, helping to bring food to those that have been starving.
I've been in the world's greatest famines over the last 13 years in Canada.
sub-Saharan Africa and I hate there's nothing more that I hate than seeing people suffer like they're suffering right in front of your eyes right now and with the solutions you're bringing so I'm very proud to be a part of the solution and when it comes to giving people answers to cancer the most debilitating challenges that we face today then the good news is that there are solutions that we're not being told about and I'll give you an example you mentioned your father with prostate cancer my My prayers are with him.
My prayers are with you.
I know your concerns around him following the conventional standard therapies that are arguably the cause of death in many cases.
The good news is that there are studies, for example, on red light therapy, one in particular that was with 413 participants, 10 different provinces in Europe collecting the data, a two-year study on red light therapy with prostate cancer, 49% within two years were completely in remission.
This is compared to the 13.5% in the control group that did not take red light therapy.
That means that your chances of beating prostate cancer were four times greater.
That's a 400% increase in beating prostate cancer in that particular study.
This was also combined with agents that are called photosensitizers that help to absorb the light into the cells that are readily accessible.
They're not expensive at all.
Very, very cost effective.
And this is important data.
This is important information.
And that's why we educate on it.
And you can read and learn all about it at myreadlight.com forward slash Christ iskey.
That's myredlight.com forward slash ChristisKey.
And you can go through an amazing video training teaching you all about this for free.
Learn all about the information so you can learn how you can help your loved ones and help yourself.
Christopher, that's a key part of this.
Help yourself.
Help yourself.
Put that oxygen mask, not the mask, that uniform that showed people you were complying or submitting to the system, but the oxygen mask that you put on to survive any calamity.
Put that on yourself.
Get those treatments for yourself.
This is a treatment that saves lives, and I'm so proud to offer it to you.
It's myredlight.com forward slash Christ is Key.
Go check it out right now.
Wake up or wake up.
Christopher Key here on this wonderful, wonderful day.
What an amazing time to be alive.
Grand Rising.
Again, quit saying good morning.
When you mourning, you're in a low vibration.
This is what these satanic, Luciferian, evil, evil entities want you doing is mourning every day.
Every day you're on this earth, they want you mourning.
So quit saying good morning and grand rising.
He has risen, yes indeed.
I was able to blue pill two of the people at the front desk this wonderful day.
And again, why did I say blue peel?
Because the guy that says he wrote The Matrix said you want to be blue peeled, not red peel.
When you're red-peeled and take the red pill, that is where you go into the child sacrifices.
You go into the adrenochrome, which makes logical sense.
But we're going to have him on, I think his name is Tom, on later next week to really go over this deep dive on how the satanic Luciferians killed his two sons and his wife left him and his little son.
So it's an interesting story, some unbelievable evidence.
And again, I don't know if it's real or not.
My whole thing is test and prove all things.
But the two people at the front said they saw my car and they were asking questions.
And both of them had pain and God through me helped the pain go away instantaneously because our chips are fantastic.
If you haven't gotten those again, please text me 561-329-8434 or go to my website, K-N-N.World.
Not C-NN because you're a lip tar, but K-N-N.
That's keynewsnetwork.world.
Spell it, W-O-R-L-D.
Don't be L-D and go to .org or .com or .info.
It's .world.
Okay.
And again, I believe there is no disease.
All there is is lack of cell-to-cell communication.
When the sales quit communicating, it causes inflammation.
That inflammation big pharma has called cancer, COVID, measles, mump, herpes, AIDS.
And again, I believe, it's my personal opinion, because I don't practice anything.
I sure as hell don't practice medicine.
Again, why do you guys put so much faith in these medical doctors that openly tell you they're practicing medicine?
Would you ever go to a plumber or try to find a plumber that was practicing how to fix a toilet or a mechanic that was practicing how to fix an engine?
You wouldn't.
So please, this temple that God created, it will heal itself from any and all things.
And that's what we're doing at KNN.world.
We show you how to be your own doctor.
We show you how to be your own lawyer.
Things are changing.
And you can't go preach God's word if you don't take care of your temple.
Masterpiece, again, is what gets rid of all the toxins.
The 200 peer-reviewed published papers proving the nanobots, the nano dots, the mercury, the aluminum, the snake venom, peptides, the graphene oxide, all those things are removed.
You give it 90 days.
Your temple will be changed forever.
And then the icing on the cake, IGF-1 derived from Dear Antler Velvet, this is fantastic.
Don't believe me, ask Judy Mykovitz, ask Dr. Lee Merritt, ask any anti-agent doctor in the world.
They will tell you, if you want to stay young, if you want to slow down the aging process, you want to do synthetic HGH.
Most people can't afford it.
It's $4,000 a month.
It's synthetic.
And you have to inject in your subcontainous fat.
And when you do that, your liver transfers to what's called IGF-1, the building block for life.
They're killing the chickens because the chickens lay eggs.
The eggs have what's called IGF-1.
Dr. Lantini has deer farms in New Zealand.
His deer, their antlers guys, are the fastest growing substance on planet Earth.
They grow an inch a day.
Why do they grow so fast?
The high concentration of IGF-1 that's on the tip of the antlers.
He's been able to freeze-dried out, put into a lipo-delivery system that his scientists invented, that they patent, that gives the body 98% absorption.
It's unbelievable.
And more importantly, he has clinical studies that prove that increased IGF-1 levels by 60%.
This is a game changer.
And right now, he's got an amazing special where if you buy any product, any product, you get another bottle for free and he gives you the $300,000 to say thank you.
This is a game changer.
Like I said, the growth hormone cost about $3,000 to $4,000.
If it was me, so many of you guys, your pecker don't work, you have no energy, you're lethargic, and it's because you've been feminized by all the estrogen mimickers and whatnot.
And he has a new product called Men's Tea that increases your test levels by 40%.
You see all these commercials on right now that says, you know, men's tea, men's tea, men's tea.
That is a steroid.
Your medical doctor is going to put you on a steroid.
And what that's going to do is make you a customer for life because what it's going to do is make your testes quit producing testosterone.
And then you go from taking a quarter CC to a half CC to a CC and a half to two CCs and you're a customer for life.
And then the synthetic will cause other ill effects.
And then they'll be putting you on blood pressure medication.
They'll put you on cholesterol medication.
You got to have cholesterol for your brain.
You have to have cholesterol to produce testosterone.
And again, the whole thing is a hoax.
I'm not a medical doctor.
I would never practice mess without a license.
Do not believe anything I tell you.
Do what the Lord commands you to do, and that is test and prove all things.
So if it was me, testosterone cost about $100.
Okay.
Right now, if you go and get the men's edge, it's like $70.
You get another bottle for free.
So you get two months and you get the $300,000.
Unbelievable.
This is a cycle that all of you guys want to be taking.
You women, you can go in and get the women's only product.
It's like $50.
There's an amazing weight loss product that's like $70.
And again, you get another bottle for free and you get a free $300,000.
Guys, what you want to be doing is the IGF-1.
If you want to stay young, if you want to slow down the aging process, this is the product that was banned by the NFL, the PGA, Major League Baseball, the NCAA.
Why?
Because it works and it works amazingly well.
In closing, something's going on in Yellowstone.
The animals are leaving.
I've seen video edited video.
I've confirmed with two people that this is truly happening.
The animals know.
They feel the frequencies.
Again, they tried to kill us off with COVID vaccine.
It didn't work.
So now they're cranking up HARP.
They're cranking up dew.
And it's very likely that they're going to create.
God doesn't do this.
God didn't do this.
They're going to create an earthquake.
They're going to create a tornado.
They're going to create a tsunami because they've got to wipe us out.
They got their infrastructure built, and all they need is 500 million.
That means 6.5 billion of us have to be exterminated.
And this was in the Georgia Guidestones, written in stone.
I was one of the last people to see it before it came down.
So again, pray, God's spoken, we were everything as frequency, okay?
And we can turn this ship around, but we have to wake more people up to resonate at that higher frequency.
And stop morning.
Grand Rising.
Love you guys.
God bless.
KNN.World, my last day here in St. Petersburg, Florida.
And then I'm supposed to be headed to Columbia, the country, and then Arizona with Isabella for her conference.
And then I'm headed to either Las Vegas for a conference and or New Mexico for a conference.
So KNN.world, not CNN, okay?
Again, KNN, that's Christopher Key, which is keynewsnetwork.world.
Okay.
W-O-R-L-D.
Don't be L-D and go to dot com or dot org or dot info dot world.