As rebuilding efforts continue across western North Carolina in communities devastated by Hurricane Helene, college students are ditching their traditional spring break trips to bring hope and help to those in this hurting community.
Cru Campus Ministry and Unto, a global humanitarian organization, have teamed up to send more than 150 volunteers from across the country to dedicate a week in Asheville, North Carolina to help in recovery efforts.
“[Volunteers] have been working in some of the areas in Western North Carolina that are hard to get to and honestly (we) just needed some strong backs and willing hearts,” said Cru Campus Ministry Executive Team member and site supervisor, Holly Allan.
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Students have traveled from as far away as New Mexico and Massachusetts to rebuild homes, neighborhoods, and communities.
“These young students have been getting under homes and putting on Tyvek suits, goggles, and masks and shimmying in these 2 1/2 foot spaces and pulling down wet insulation,” Allan told CBN News.
Allan says the work is a small step in a large project in rebuilding parts of North Carolina.
/**/As CBN News reported, six months ago Helene made landfall as a Category 4 storm and unleashed devastation across western North Carolina after tearing through Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, and then into Virginia and Tennessee as well.
According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, there were 106 verified storm-related deaths.
The smaller communities in Western North Carolina were completely blindsided by the storm. Many residents left with just the clothes on their backs to safely escape. And they returned to just fragments and remnants of the places they used to call home.
Six months later, many are still living in those same conditions, Allan explained.
“There are homeowners now who are making phone calls six months later asking for help,” she said. “They haven’t been asking for help. They’ve waited maybe for [help from] insurance, maybe for help from FEMA, and maybe just from family…but it’s a little bit too much for them.”
Some estimates put the economic impact of the storm, including property damage, at $200 billion, and repairs to communities, including infrastructure, could take multiple years to complete, according to Cru.
To read the full story, please visit our content partners at CBN News.
Reprinted with permission from cbn.com. Copyright © 2025 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
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