Helene recovery: Pirate Nation jumps into action

In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, ECU showed its commitment to community, echoing the aid it received during Hurricane Floyd 25 years earlier.

As UNC Asheville faced significant challenges, ECU Dining dispatched two food trucks to provide meals for students shortly after the hurricane struck. One of those students was Will Fairley, whose mother, Candice Matelski-Brady ’02, was also a sophomore at ECU during Hurricane Floyd.

“The day before Helene struck, I told my sister the amount of pre-rainfall reminded me of the days before Floyd,” said Matelski-Brady. “Will told me that ECU Dining came to Asheville to help feed students. I smiled and said, ‘ECU remembers. Now they are paying it forward 25 years later.”

In addition to providing food assistance, ECU sent four police officers to Asheville to help local law enforcement manage the increased demands on their resources.

Meanwhile, ECU students and alumni took to the skies, delivering essential supplies to remote areas affected by the storm. Notable among them was Dr. Jonathan Austin ’16, a dental alumnus who flew his Piper Arrow to transport aid to hard-hit communities. (Read more about Austin’s work.)

“We’re not afraid to get our hands dirty,” he said. “Several of us in our class knew we would return to our hometowns to practice dentistry and help our communities. With this, I just tried to do what needed to be done.”

Leading the N.C. National Guard’s efforts was Maj. Gen Todd Hunt ‘88, adjutant general of the guard. More than 500 NCNG soldiers deployed to the region and, together with other military personnel, rescued 765 people and delivered supplies and assistance to many more.

Among those NCNG soldiers was ECU senior Cameron Smitherman, who played a direct role in recovery efforts, helping to deliver food and generators to those cut off from essential services.

“Often, we were the first contact these people have had since the storm,” he said.

ECU senior Cameron Smitherman worked with his N.C. National Guard unit to deliver supplies across western North Carolina.

Bryan Edge ’97, right, speaks with the nephew of a woman whose Newland, N.C., house was damaged by the remnants of Hurricane Helene.

From left, Pirate football players Jackson Barker and Greg Turner III, director of player development Bryan Butterworth, Preston Carr and other players help prepare donations at Ignite Church in Greenville for delivery to Black Mountain, N.C.

CW2 Karen Shoaf ’14 watches as hay is loaded onto her U.S. Army CH-47F Chinook helicopter in western North Carolina. Shoaf, a pilot stationed at Fort Liberty, was among the approximately 1,000 active-duty troops from the 82nd and 101st airborne divisions deployed to western North Carolina.

Community support flowed through local churches, businesses and organizations, notably at Ignite Church in Greenville, which served as a donation hub. Richard Allsbrook ’91 ’02, an ECU criminal justice instructor, delivered the goods to the western part of the state.

“It’s anything but normal in the mountains,” Allsbrook said. “Sometimes it’s hard to measure help, but any way that anyone can help is help, because I am 100% certain it is needed.”

Student-athletes set rivalries aside and joined the effort, with ECU football players volunteering at Ignite and Appalachian State basketball players and track-and-field athletes meeting Allsbrook to help unload the truck.

“I’m a Pirate, but now an App State basketball fan, too,” Allsbrook said.

The School of Dental Medicine’s service learning centers in Spruce Pine and Sylva faced challenges as well. All faculty and staff are safe, and operations at Sylva have resumed. The town of Spruce Pine, however, sustained heavy damage including the destruction of its water treatment facility, so the dental center there is open only for emergency cases.

Bryan Edge ’97, a video content producer in University Communications, spent Oct. 5 in Newland as a volunteer with Samaritan’s Purse.

“We were assigned to help a woman named Sue in her late 70s who lived in a small neighborhood,” said Edge. “Her husband died of natural causes on the same day the storm hit, and she lost her mother and dog earlier this year. The entire first floor of her house was submerged by floodwater, and while the water had receded by the time we arrived, substantial damage was already done.”

Edge went to work removing the air duct insulation while wearing necessary protective equipment due to mold. Later, a second job revealed a bit of light in a shed where Sue designed stained glass windows.

“She used this shed as her studio,” said Edge. “Sue was concerned that her works were damaged, but miraculously her work was only covered in mud and could easily be rinsed off.”

Ivy Bagley, a four-time ECU graduate, provided medical assistance to displaced individuals, particularly elderly ones.

“Some patients were from nursing homes, and others were there due to needing electricity for home medical equipment,” she said. “Many need us to listen and be supportive.”

Bagley has a Healthcare Emergency and Disaster Management certificate from the College of Nursing and has a National Healthcare Disaster Certification. She encouraged people to not forget the mountains after the headlines go away.

“In a few months, still remember those who lost all, and as towns rebuild or artisans begin to work again, support their local businesses,” she said.