(Asheville, North Carolina) Ethan Forhetz, National Spokesperson for Convoy of Hope is on the ground in flood-devastated Asheville, North Carolina.
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"The damage is really unimaginable, especially that far inland," Ethan shared.
"It's exactly what you're seeing on your phone and on television. Mud everywhere, water everywhere. There are so many cars under water and homes and businesses. Entire livelihoods are now destroyed. Roads closed. A lot of traffic because there are only a few roads that are available. It's a crisis situation here in North Carolina."
What is Convoy of Hope doing?
Ethan shared, "Even before the hurricane, we stationed ourselves right outside the hurricane zone so that as it moved up and through Florida, we moved in right behind it. We immediately began to hand out essential supplies...water, and groceries and hygeine items for people. Cleaning supplies. All things that they can't get because stores are closed after a storm of that magnitude."
Helene's Damage Was Unprecedented
"We began to hear of all the damage reports away from the coast, which is unusual. Georgia and Tennessee and North and South Carolina and Virginia even. So we started shipping supplies directly to those locations from our world distribution center in Springfield, Missouri and those truckloads have kept coming. We're almost at a hundred trucks that have been delivered at this point, so the supply keeps flowing to those areas."
What about places like Ashville that can't handle large semi trucks? How does Convoy get supplies into those areas?
"A big partner of ours is churches. What we've been doing is dropping off a lot of our supplies at churches, and they're taking smaller vehicles and taking it into communities--places where our semis cannot go--and places where they know the backroads to because they're from there. We are also working, and this is very unique for the United States, for the first time ever Convoy of Hope is trying to figure out ways to airlift supplies to people in American towns. We've done that overseas numerous times, but we've never had to do that in the United States."
Convoy of Hope always brings the hope of Jesus to devastated communities.
"First and foremost, is we show the love of Jesus through tangible means. We give them the things that they need and that opens their hearts to ask why sometimes. 'Why did you come all the way from Missouri to do this?' And the answer is, that's what Jesus would have us do."
"We want to care for you like Jesus cared for people. We want to show you the love of Jesus."
Convoy of Hope volunteers get to pray for people in line and give them comfort and encouragement in the Lord.
"Yes, they're blessed by the physical things that we give them--the water and the groceries and the hygeine items, those sorts of things--but what they really take away from it is the personal touch and the knowledge that somebody cares."