CANTON, North Carolina – In the weeks after the devastation left behind in the West North Carolina from the hurricane HelenA chance encounter between a woman and a photograph of a dog has sparked a community-wide effort to reunite families with memories erased in the deadly incident. flood.

Taylor Schenker was meeting her friend for a FEMA appointment to get help after the disaster that killed 230 people and left nearly the entire town in ruins. His friend’s home was destroyed by the Swannanoa River, causing widespread destruction along the banks where waters rose well above previous record levels.

“While I was waiting for the appointment, I found a photo of a dog on the river bank, and after that we spent a few hours looking for photos and found some different materials and different items for people we wanted to reunite.” Schenker said. “And we left them by the river and went home that day.”

But he said thoughts of what he experienced in the photos kept him awake that night.

“And it was such a devastating feeling for them to go through all of that and not be able to go home,” he said. “I came back the next day, collected the photos and created an Instagram account and we went from there.”

Scheneker’s Instagram page Titled “Photos from Helene,” she posts her finds in hopes of reuniting them with their owners.

‘There were a lot of hugs’

Schenker says he has recovered about 400 photographs so far, from his own finds along the riverbank, working with search and rescue teams, and collected from others who found photographs in the wreckage.

“It’s a privilege to have these truly intimate memories and to find them by the river. I know what this means to someone who has lost so much,” he said. “And I feel really lucky to be able to be a part of the lives of these photographs and put them back together.”

Especially for photos that contain irreplaceable memories.

“For some people, maybe they lost a child, or they had a memory like a wedding, or a memory like that that can’t come back,” he said. “And to reunite them with these photos is really special. Give something back to people who have already lost so much.”

He described a particularly moving encounter when he found the photos and sent them back to a mother of two sons, one of whom had passed away several years earlier.

“And so when they lost their home, they lost almost all memory of this child ever existing,” he said. “And it was so special for them to be able to get a photo back and have a memory of their son… There was a lot of hugging.”

He found a photo of himself reuniting with a family who had lost the occupant of the home when it was hit by the overflowing river.

“And I know that’s not the same as bringing your kids back,” Schenker said. “But being able to have that when they can’t go to their child’s house or something like that is just a little piece that will hopefully help them in their healing process.”

So far, about 200 photos have been returned to dozens of families, he said.

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