Under the proper name, “Compassionate Campers” The group recently purchased two campers and took them to the flood-ravaged area over the weekend. Their hope is to raise enough money to buy more campers to house people who are currently living in tents as they face the prospect of cold weather.

It all started when Heather Newhart, who owns Natural Waterscapes with her father, started seeing stories of the destruction.

“I saw what was happening and realized there wasn’t a lot of information you could find about where help was needed and what was going on.” he said.

He said their business helps with flood cleanup locally and actually pays their staff to do the work because they believe in helping people in the community.

“And I was impressed by what we did. “Seeing the destruction that has occurred here is a devastation that cannot be compared to the loss of property and loss of life there.” he said.

Newhart checked them out online after seeing an interview about what Samaritan’s Purse, a humanitarian group, was doing to help people rebuild their lives. It was on a Wednesday. By the end of the next day, he decided to go to North Carolina. He talked it over with his father, and on Saturday they headed to the state, where damage from the storm is estimated at about $53 billion, with a flatbed truck full of supplies purchased by their company.

Newhart and her husband left on October 12, about two weeks after the flood.

“When we got there we didn’t know what to expect or what we might or might not see.” he shared.

The first thing they did was drop off the supplies at a local church. There was also a bridge blocking access for 60 people.

“They were using a pulley system just to get supplies to these people. That was my first real amazement, it’s everywhere, but I’m seeing it firsthand.” he said.

“This was our first example because the destruction is so widespread, but in pockets over such a wide area. So you can be in a big city and not see it, and then you can move a little bit, say a few miles off the beaten path, and then you can see this destruction. he said.

What he noticed was that neighbors were helping neighbors who were trying to rebuild their lives, even though there was no official government assistance in their area.

The house they were assigned to work in was not directly in the flood zone, but in a wind-damaged area.

“We went to an area where all the trees were destroyed due to the wind. “They lived on the side of a mountain and luckily they had cleared a lane-wide road.” he said.

While I was walking home, one of the neighbors who owned the house was running down the road with a crowbar because the woman in the house had her hand stuck in the garage door because there was no electricity. .

“That was our first, oh my God, now it’s real.” he said.

The reality is that homes damaged by falling trees couldn’t be repaired because work crews couldn’t get there to help them and homeowners couldn’t get out because of downed trees.

The group the Newharts were with tried to clear trees and helped them get out their cars so they could get supplies.

The next house they worked on belonged to an old man who was unable to leave his house due to a mudslide. The crew cleared it so they could reach the city.

“Even though these people lived close to the city, they had no power.” he said.

Heather and her husband stayed for two days to help, but the mother of two knew they had to be home.

“I felt a sense of emptiness the whole way home, like I hadn’t done enough, like there was too much, because we worked in a mile-wide area for two days, you know, from sun up to sundown, and helped six homeowners during that time.” “We did, it was incredible that we could do that, but we weren’t even in the flood zone at that time. I mean, we saw that devastation as well, they were still working on cadaver dogs in many of those areas, so Samaritan’s Purse doesn’t want you in those areas when they’re working on search and rescue dogs.” he said.

“I was already emotional on the way home. We had to drive through the mountain passes in Tennessee to get back home because the major highways were closed… and then we got to Irwin, Tennessee and you see the devastation on the major highways, mountains of mud and trees. “It’s a whole other level of shock to see that mother nature can do this and that people have to deal with it and live through it every day.” he said.

Newhart had been following many of the groups participating in the cleanup online, and they said that while supplies like clothing and hygiene supplies were appreciated, what they really needed was shelter.

“A lot of these families, especially in these smaller communities — think of them as something like Trout Run, Warrensville or Picture Rocks — their communities have been destroyed and their resources,” he said.

“These homeowners do not have flood insurance because the majority of them do not live in floodplains. Therefore, they have great needs. Their houses turn into piles of rubble. “There’s not even a salvage option because it’s either downriver or disintegrated.” he said.

“I see this question over and over again in these groups that I follow, and part of it is they need campers and tiny homes to get back to some sense of normalcy. “They can stay warm, they can eat, they can cook inside.” he said.

Newhart heard from churches in that area about people living in tents or their cars because their homes had either collapsed or mold had formed and were uninhabitable.

“So the need for housing is huge, and that’s a bigger resource item that’s not easy to tackle.” he said.

“I felt like it was a burden on me to be able to deal with it and figure it out. So I started calling and talking to churches and nonprofits there and figuring out how we could make this possible, what we could do, and whether we could make it happen. he said.

The pastor of Big News Baptist Church, a small community church in Newland, North Carolina, had put out a call on social media for families saying they urgently needed five campers. Although Pastor Keith Russell, who is in his 70s, earned money to buy six cars to donate to families because they couldn’t get out, they still needed a place to live.

“And we said we would help you.” said Newhart.

The first family to buy a camper has three children. They were not in the flood zone, but their homes were destroyed by a landslide.

“So this family is in urgent need of a home. In the same landslide, in the same spot, there was a woman who was now a widow. Her husband died in a landslide. Initially, we were only going to serve families, but I couldn’t say no to that. She lost her husband and her home, and I can’t help her. That’s why we’re trying to find a home for him as soon as possible,” he said. he said.

Newhart noted that what many people who have never been in a situation like this don’t understand is that even if people buy insurance for their losses, there may still be mortgages and bills to pay and jobs may not be available due to the disaster.

Working with the nonprofit organization Camp Susque, Compassionate Campers initially hoped to raise $60,000 to purchase at least five gently used campers to ship to North Carolina.

Newhart’s group has been in contact with other aid groups helping damaged areas, and what they’re hearing is “The need is great.”

“There are so many needs. We start from somewhere. We are trying to solve these first five,” he said. he said.

“We will do the best we can, as quickly as possible. The need is unreal, unlike anything you’ve ever seen. I’ve seen a lot of people describe it as a war zone – maybe not in some areas – but in others the ground has been stripped away. The houses look like bombs have gone off.” “disappeared” he said.

Anyone who wants to help “Compassionate Campers” To learn more about their mission or to donate, they can check out their Facebook page or go to susque.org/hurricane.

“We hope that other people will step up to help if they think about helping and sending supplies; it’s a really noble cause to help people in a way that they can’t help themselves right now and it helps them a lot more than just providing them with supplies because if they don’t have a home and that’s “If they don’t have shelter like that, it’s really kind of like a base and they have to go back to that,” he said.

“It’s been over a month since the flood and it’s not happening now, winter is coming and the mountains of North Carolina are as cold as they are in Pennsylvania. So they need to have a home to get out of the cold and feel normal again.” he continued.

“These people have experienced more pain and loss than I could ever imagine. I feel like I carry some of it with me just from seeing it and hearing the stories. But I can’t imagine living this every day. There are neighbors who help their neighbors every day just to meet these basic needs, but at the end of the day, they still have to go home to their tents. (We are) trying to bring some sense of normalcy to their lives.” he added.