Resiliency
[Music]
[Screen text] 4.6 million people – more than 40% of the state’s population – lived in one of Hurricane Helene’s disaster areas.
In addition to the devastating loss of life… thousands of miles of roads and bridges were damaged, cutting communities off and limiting egress for residents and entrance by essential response and recovery teams.
[Music]
[Screen text] Dana, Town of Lake Lure
[Dana]
Day one, as soon as this hit, everybody grabbed their chainsaws. They grabbed tools.
[Screen text] Nancy, MANNA FoodBank
[Nancy]
It was just amazing to see the spirit of cooperation and community that came out of Helene.
[Screen text] Alec, Blue Cross NC
[Alec]
We knew instantly it was going to be a serious event.
[Screen text] Dr. Jackson, Buncombe County School System
[Dr. Jackson]
Neighbors would show up to help a neighbor and the response was, I know I've got a tree on my house, but my neighbor has two trees on their house. Can we work on that first?
[Nancy]
They forget their political differences. They forget their religious differences. They come together and they support.
[Caitlin]
It was amazing to see.
[Screen text] Micah, MANNA FoodBank
[Micah]
By that following Monday, we were showing up at the farmer's market and we just had a couple trucks, a couple pallets of food that's our staff and donors had brought together, and that was it, and we put out the call.
[Nancy]
I remember one lady specifically who was crying and said, “You don't know how badly I needed this today.”
[Caitlin]
That was really what got everyone through, I think, was neighbors helping neighbors and family supporting family.
[Alec]
People were going to lose access to their pharmacies, to their doctors, to their regular medication. We started working with the state. We started working with our partners, providers who were in areas not impacted by the hurricane to make sure that we could get those supplies that people were going to need right then and there.
[Dr. Jackson]
This traumatic experience our students are still living through. We recognize that the mental health needs, the support our children need has been ramped up.
[Screen text] Kelly, Blue Cross NC
[Kelly]
One of the ways that we are focused at Blue Cross North Carolina is how do we bring the full power of our organization to tackle this challenge, to make sure that the way we respond is in response to what they need to help tackle youth mental health.
[Screen text] Caitlin, AMY Wellness Foundation
[Caitlin]
A year later. Recovery is positive and it's because of our relationships and our community.
[Micha]
This recovery is going to be measured in years and we can't do this alone.
[Caitlin]
Before the storm, there was always Western North Carolina and the rest of the state. After the storm, the rest of the state has really showed up, supported and been here and continues to be here, and I don't think we could be on the road to recovery without that to be honest.
[Dr. Jackson]
Is the mosaic of organizations who all came together who said there's this huge need that no one group or entity can meet.
[Kelly]
We're not going anywhere. We're going to continue to come back and be here. That's what this is about.
[Screen text] Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina
