ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Southern Baptists have been engaged in bringing relief to survivors of Hurricane Helene since the storm made landfall on Sept. 26, 2024. As the six-month mark of the storm approaches, the focus has shifted to helping their neighbors and communities rebuild.

Helene claimed the lives of more than 230 people as it churned across six states and generated roughly $200 billion in damage, making it the costliest storm in U.S. history.

“What set Helene apart was the widespread impact of the storm. Southern Baptist Disaster Relief had to cover hundreds of miles of territory in the response,” said Josh Benton, Send Relief’s vice president for national ministry. “Their ability to extend themselves that far signals the strength and capacity of the SBDR network. Southern Baptists cannot thank their state disaster relief leadership and volunteers enough for the way they sacrificed to meet needs and share the gospel in the aftermath of this crisis.”

In the weeks after landfall, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) prepared more than 1 million meals, completed more than 7,800 recovery jobs and reported 244 professions of faith through nearly 40 SBDR sites spread throughout Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

In Appalachia, the focus has shifted from the recovery phase to the rebuild.

Recently, Maria Lee, wife of Tennessee governor Bill Lee, served alongside Tennessee Baptists as they assist homeowners through their Arise and Build initiative, which has completed more than 110 jobs so far.

Each of the six states Helene touched received significant damage, but none felt the sting more than western North Carolina in and around Asheville.

“When disaster struck our state last fall, we saw N.C. Baptists and Great Commission Baptists from around the country live out what it means to be ‘on mission together,’” said Todd Unzicker, N.C. Baptists executive director-treasurer, in written comments. “It’s not just a slogan. God has moved and provided through local churches jumping into action and serving on mission together.”

SBDR’s initial response focused on the immediate needs, providing hot meals and clean up after flooding devastated homes and property. In 2025, volunteers have turned their attention to coming alongside survivors to help rebuild their homes.

Richard Weeks, an associational mission strategist for the Eastern Baptist Association in Rose Hill, N.C., has been engaged in the Helene response since Oct. 5 of last year. The churches in his association sent him more than 300 miles west to serve essentially as a missionary as North Carolina’s Baptists on Mission tapped him to help lead their rebuild efforts.

“I’ve been doing this since 1999 when Hurricane Floyd hit eastern North Carolina, and I’ve been to a lot of different places” for disaster relief, Weeks said. “But this is one of the most unique storms I’ve ever been a part of due to the terrain and the force of the overall storm itself.”

The rebuild process began by identifying homes that could be repaired quickly so families could move back in before the coldest days of winter. Phase 2 expanded to repairing homes that had been damaged more extensively. Weeks said they anticipate reaching a third phase, which will involve completely rebuilding homes from the ground up.

Approximately 1,400 disaster response teams composed of more than 7,000 volunteers have come from inside and outside the state to support Baptists on Mission as they get homeowners back into their homes. So far, Unzicker said they have completed around 130 homes with about 250 other rebuilds currently underway.

“I’ve heard incredible stories about churches reaching their neighbors and seeing them come to faith and get baptized — through the impact of Helene response,” Unzicker said.

No one in western North Carolina was prepared to deal with such significant hurricane damage. Several people SDBR and Baptists on Mission have helped had no idea where to turn after Helene destroyed much, if not all, of what they owned, said Weeks.

Many people, once they learned the church was assisting them, rediscovered the courage to venture into the local church again.

“I’ve got several stories where that was exactly what they shared,” Weeks said. “’You know, we’ve left the church. We had lost faith in the church and the work of the church, but this has brought back a hope and a faith that the church is really at the forefront of trying to meet the needs of people.’”

Weeks recalled one story of a particular family in Canton where the wife of a man with dementia had a hard heart when they began working on their house. By the end, however, the kindness of the volunteers who worked on her house inspired her to begin attending Crestview Baptist Church, a church that celebrated 20 baptisms between December and February.

“We’ve had volunteers come in to help who, it turned out, didn’t have a relationship with Christ,” Weeks said. “So, we’ve had volunteers come to Christ, and we’ve actually baptized one volunteer in the back of a pick-up truck.”

Baptists on Mission received a $3 million grant from the North Carolina government to assist with the rebuild process. Send Relief, the SBC’s compassion ministry arm, has also supplied financial resources to support the effort, and N.C. Baptists is accepting donations through ServeNC to resource volunteers who will continue serving storm survivors throughout 2025.

“God has made His grace and providence evident and answered our prayers,” Unzicker said, “and I trust that He will continue to do so as long-term rebuild work goes on.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Brandon Elrod writes for the North American Mission Board.)