Dozens of cars lined up in the parking lot of Feeding Avery Families and out into the street.

In the weeks since Hurricane Helene changed life in western North Carolina, the nonprofit food pantry in Newland has been noticeably busier. But this mid-November morning was especially active because volunteers were distributing boxes of turkey and sides for Thanksgiving.

“Clearly, there’s a huge need in the community,” said Sally Loftis, who became Feeding Avery Families’ interim co-executive director after executive director Dick Larson died in August.

Feeding Avery Families, which has an agency endowment fund with the North Carolina Community Foundation, served more than 10,000 meals to Avery County area residents in the first month after Hurricane Helene.

Volunteer numbers have skyrocketed too. Loftis said Feeding Avery Families typically gets 500 volunteers annually, but 350 people volunteered in the first six weeks after the storm. Even on this November day, a family from Florida was there to help.

“This has been a healing space because volunteers are with people in the community who are helping other people in the community,” Loftis said while standing in the 10,000 square-foot facility that opened in April 2023. “We would not have been able to do what we’ve done in the last seven weeks without philanthropy, because our food supply chain was completely disrupted.”

Other nonprofit organizations and government entities throughout western North Carolina also are relying on philanthropy for support. In the days after the storm, NCCF collaborated with other community foundations and organizations that serve western NC so that there was support for both the immediate and long-term recovery.

The North Carolina Community Foundation’s Disaster Relief Fund aims to provide assistance in the months and years ahead.

“Our Disaster Relief Fund is going to be providing help with long-term recovery and unmet needs. It will complement the work already underway in western North Carolina with grants going out to organizations in early 2025,” said NCCF President and CEO Jennifer Tolle Whiteside.

More than $10 million has been raised so far for the Disaster Relief Fund, including a $7.5 million gift from Lilly Endowment Inc.

“The way that NCCF has a disaster relief program, it’s comforting to know those dollars are going to come in and that people are willing to give and give generously to help,” said Gwen Clark, secretary and grants chair of the Avery Community Foundation, an NCCF affiliate.

Clark has lived in Avery County since 1986, and the reminders of Hurricane Helene remain inescapable: debris piled on the side of roads, destroyed bridges and abandoned houses are still prevalent while construction crews actively try to build back. But the visual that stood out most to Clark were signs that read, “Don’t forget about us.”

“No one ever thought that western North Carolina would have this type of disaster,” said Clark. “The generosity of people through philanthropy and NCCF at the state and local levels, to be able to still have those dollars to use in our community to keep things going is going to be key.”

“There’s a very specific mountain culture,” Loftis added. “But it’s been really hard for a lot of us in this natural disaster because we’ve had to accept help and ask for help, and that’s not really part of our culture.”