BARNARDSVILLE, N.C. (BP) — Curtis showed up about two weeks ago and has been invaluable for helping Barnardsville Baptist Church after flood damage to its building. It’s what he hasn’t done, however, that may signal a key to the long-term response to Helene’s damage in the area.
Barnardsville is an unincorporated community in the mountains – about a 20-minute drive from Asheville. There is one restaurant and no hotels. Weaverville is the nearest town and has a few more options of both, but not many.
Curtis brought refurbished chainsaws that have helped clear the debris piled up after Ivy Creek exceeded its banks by several feet. He has also fixed numerous small engines for those nearby while helping Barnardsville Baptist begin its cleanup process, including tearing out and replacing sheetrock.
At the end of the day, he sleeps in the box truck he drove from Texas. Church members help provide food, but he is largely self-sufficient.
That has been the case with others who have helped the church in recent weeks. Some camped prior to the chilly temperatures that recently arrived. Some have slept in the church parsonage.
It’s a setting Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams and church groups should expect, said Kenton Hunt, DR director for the Baptist Resource Network of Pennsylvania/South Jersey.
“Teams that go in, especially the first ones, will need to be entirely self-sufficient,” he said. “They cannot be leaning on the infrastructure of the affected town. They would be looking for water, food, electricity and all those things that the locals need. There won’t be businesses. Utilities will be spotty. And if your group wants to buy groceries, well guess what, so does everyone else living there.”
In addition to an initial effort of providing supplies, assessment has been crucial for a larger-scale response. It should become clearer for Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams about when to begin going to North Carolina in a few weeks, he added.
In the meantime, Hunt has dispatched teams to Helene damage in South Carolina and a few DR members to Sarasota, Fla., as a part of the SBDR feeding units there in the wake of Hurricane Milton.
Barnardsville went through a generational hailstorm in May, making it necessary for the church to put $160,000 into repairing its roof. Thankfully, the flood didn’t touch that. But it did go about five feet up the walls in the sanctuary, kitchen, bathrooms, furnace room and the old and new fellowship halls.
The church averages about 40 on Sundays, most of them over 65 years old. The lion’s share of the recovery work has fallen to deacons Robert English, 54, and Jimmy Evans, who turns 60 next month, as well as a few groups and, of course, Curtis.
“We literally had to gut the church building, spray for mold and start fixing it back,” Evans said. “We’re the oldest church in this valley, started in 1821. The main sanctuary was built in 1926.”
It showed in pulling up the soggy carpet. That revealed the previous carpet. Beneath that was the original hardwood flooring, followed by rough-cut lumber sub-floor.
The spring hailstorm left holes in a plastic water tank big enough for Evans to drop a baseball through. He thought that was the worst he would see.
“I’ve been the chair of deacons for 30 years,” he said. “The hailstorm was bad enough, but not as bad as this.”
English told BP on Oct. 17 that a good bit of progress has taken place in clearing out the church.
“At least 85 percent of that stuff we moved outside has been cleaned or put in dumpsters,” he said. “Sidewalks have been pressure-washed. The fellowship hall has been cleaned out and we’re ready to put flooring down.”
There is a lot left, though. For starters, his church has to find a place to meet. That looks to be in the works with another nearby congregation, but not in time for this Sunday (Oct. 20).
“Our interim pastor, Shane Lunsford, and his family have been here quite a bit,” English said. “But he’s been in the City of Asheville’s Water department, so he’s been extremely busy.”
Evans retired after 25 years with AT&T. Before that he worked with the Buncombe County EMS and in the fire department.
He retired before turning 60 due partly to bad knees, but also deals with the aftermath of rotator cuff surgery on both shoulders and a bruised femur.
A group from Bryson City, N.C., will be coming this weekend. They’re bringing their own food. The parsonage is available for them to sleep in. The arrangement shows how self-sustainability will be just as vital as availability for the groups to come later.
“Our members are older and can’t help,” said Evans. “People around here are working like crazy to rebuild and save their homes.”
And it’s important for volunteers’ presence to not add to that anxiety.
“Southern Baptist Disaster Relief is going to be very sensitive to that,” said Hunt. “We’re going to be careful, patient, organized and disciplined on where and when we send teams. We know this is going to be a long-haul response, and the people are going to have needs for a very long time.”
