Doing What They Can

Sometimes, we are overtaken by tragedy and grief is overwhelming. Here in this part of Appalachia, some folks are dealing with tremendous loss and uncertainty. Everything is gone but the clothes on their backs, and all their friends and neighbors are swept away. Others have electricity, safe water, and normalcy. Schools are open and most of the roads are passable. Life seems to be as it should, until you see the debris piled up and signs like the one below, indicating "Free Hot Meals."

It is six weeks after the storm. The original rush of volunteers has slowed down, and there is still tremendous need. SAR teams-- Search and Rescue-- no longer have anyone to rescue. Now it is about recovering the bodies, and most of the work seems to be done by volunteer organizations, rather than by the government. The official death toll is artificially low, because only identified bodies make the list of dead. This problem is not exclusive to this disaster. One of my teammates worked Search and Rescue in Joplin, Missouri in 2011. The official death count was 158 people, yet he saw two refrigerated trailer loads of collected body parts. If it's not linked to specific person, then that death doesn't officially count. His estimate from living there and participating in the rescues and cleanup was that the true death toll was closer to 2,000. It's the same problem here. The official total doesn't tell the true story.

Six weeks have passed, since the storm, and missing persons are presumed by their families to be dead by now. But without an identified body, death certificates can't be issued and life insurance claims paid out. It is difficult to get pre-storm numbers to even calculate missing persons, because census data only shows people that are tied to a permanent location. And Appalachia attracts people who don't want to be found. They want everyone, particularly the government, to just leave them alone. My personal expectation is that this cultural aspect skews the census data to be lower than the reality. There were also many free sprits who loved nature and gathered in large encampments along the river. One popular place was the Ashville River Arts District where tents abounded and the government gave away free needles to the drug addicts. They were all swept away.

So what is to be done in the face of such tragedy? In the book of Job, Chapter 1, Job is confronted with a similar level of total loss. His children were killed when a great wind came and the house fell on them, and all his wealth was stolen by raiders. His response to this personal tragedy is told in verses 20-22, quoting from The New International Version (NIV):

" Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:

'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.'

In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing."

What I also find interesting is the response of Job's friends. They heard about his losses and his terrible health. (By now he was covered with painful sores.)

"When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was."

There is a lesson in this, I think. They didn't try to talk initially. They didn't offer wise sayings or religious quotations. They were present. That's all. They were present in his grief. Eventually, Job was ready to talk it out, and they were there for him. That's what those in deep grief need emotionally from their friends and family-- just their presence.

One thing that impresses me about Appalachia in the aftermath of the flooding, is how most of the work is done by friends and neighbors, and by strangers from far away who have come to help. It's not really the government helping-- it's fellow Americans. People coming in from all over, donating their time, their money, their food. Buying generators and freezers and propane heaters and bringing them from all over. I met people here from Indiana, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and have heard of others coming from Florida, Colorado, and even Canada. My teammates drove 14 hours to get here. It wasn't their first trip to help out, and it won't be their last. Churches have stepped up to become staging areas for donations and housing for volunteers.

Many other churches were damaged or destroyed. Martin's Chapel Methodist Church (1858) in Burnsville NC is across the street from a trailer park that was swept away. It is on higher ground even than the bridge, but it still was filled with water. The inside has been cleaned out of carpet and pews, and the wood floor is severely buckled from the standing water. But there is a poignant sign taped to the door.

"What if you woke up this morning and the only thing you had left was what you thanked God for last night?"

The need is overwhelming for those in the middle of it, but I am reminded of a story about Mother Teresa, a catholic nun who ministered to the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, India. Someone was visiting her and commented on the vast need, saying "You can't save everyone." But her immediate response was "You start by saving one."

And that's what I see here. Neighbors helping neighbors by doing what they can. I am moved by the sign on the side of the road, proclaiming "Free Hot Meals." Because hot food when you're down and hungry is such a morale booster. The offer wasn't tied to race or gender or sexual preference or citizenship. It was just hot food for the hungry, and it moved me.

So what is to be done? What can YOU do? Donate. Volunteer. Show up. Be present. A great place to start is to join the Facebook group Burnsville Hub. That's how I found my people, but other groups abound. Do some research. Find an organization that is working here in North Carolina or Tennessee, (or in Florida, for that matter.) Call them, text them, or email them. Ask them what they need. Ask them how you can help. They would love that, I promise. And helping is good for the soul.

I will close with the scripture passage I opened to this morning. It is Habakkuk chapter 3, starting in verse 17, quoting from the NIV:

Though the fig tree does not bud

and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength;

he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

he enables me to go on the heights.

And that's my prayer for the people here; that the Sovereign LORD would be their strength, and would enable them to go-- and to continue living-- here in the heights of these beloved mountains.

Neighbors helping neighbors, doing what they can.