![]() | Welcome to Rebuilding Hollers Foundation |
By Stephanie Johnson
Throughout this process a lot of thoughts have crossed my mind & a lot of new experiences have occurred, I wrote a few of them down & sometimes folks enjoy reading them on my socials.
I'll share them here... just incase you like to read.
October 27, 2024 - 30 days after the storm
A month ago... I woke my husband up and said it's getting bad, you better get up & be ready incase this gets worse.
I could have never imagined how much worse it would get for so many. Devastated doesn't describe our community, it doesn't convey the pain or hopelessness we feel deep in our spirit knowing things will never be the same..
Our stories of these incredible mountains now come with the disclosures, "before the storm". Everything is different now. Our water is toxic, our landscape is fragile, our first significant snow fall will bring worry & extreme danger instead of peace and beauty. Our roads are destroyed and so many bridges are laying in the water they once gave us a path across. Houses that have stood for generations have been shattered into a million pieces and scattered along the river banks. Their owners either watched from a hill side or went riding down the river with their home, never to be seen or found again.
We are forever changed. And still everyday for a month we keep going. Keep trying. Keep showing up.
We have met so many amazing people that have come to help. So many beautiful souls say "God sent me". So much love and an extraordinary generosity that has kept our hearts patched and protected. We are so thankful for the beautiful souls that have come to love us and help us, because of them we have been strong enough to battle a side of humanity that has never before exhisted in these mountains.
The grifters, fame seekers and thieves. The folks from off that have poured in to "fundraise" and video our devastation for social media clicks & fame. The cowboys on atv's that only wanted to cause additional damage with their cooler full of beer and jacked up atvs. Film crews that sneak into distribution hubs to film and claim the work is done by whomever pays them.. the marketing used to raise more free money for the grifters. The nasty souls who's only loyalty is to their demonic dollar that will lie and steal from devastation just to go back home with their go fund me money & a sad story for the socials. Click bait look at me and send me money. Be wary of folks that don't live here and folks that rode in on the tail of total devastation, under the guise of help. The side of humanity I have witnessed is something I could have never expected. I had no idea there were entire businesses set up to roll in like armed gypsies that would market and profit millions off our destruction. Millions that my community will never see. I had no idea militia's would try to set up in our hollers and expect / demand to be supplied off the distribution hubs that are solely supplied by the generosity of Americans all across the country. Not for folks from off that decided it'd be a great time to hunker down in them hills & take advantage of unsuspecting locals, hiding their true intentions.
I've said since the beginning that something isn't right here, the storm itself, the response by officials, the desire of others to control the supplies.
The folks the supplies are intended for can be too proud to accept them, what they don't realize is how badly everyone else wants to take those very supplies away.
We are in serious trouble here in Western North Carolina & I still don't think folks realize how really very bad it is.
My heart is broken for my community. My spirit is shattered at being unable to protect them. We are under constant attack & it's only been a month since the water began to rise...
November 10, 2024
Today I saw...
I saw how a gentle 30' wide creek became a 300' wide valley full of liquid rage as the mountain behind it slid off its granite base and pushed its wave of complete destruction down the holler. I saw trees still standing strong with the slightest buckle as they hold back another mountain of broken trees and debris. I saw broken bridges and traversed thru a creek then climbed straight back up a steep mountain side. I saw a house I sold to a beautiful client.. half missing & shifted by a landslide. I saw i beams and guard rails wrapped around trees folded like paper, I saw cars so crushed you couldn't even tell what they were, I saw acres and acres of trees snapped in half like a discarded toothpick, I saw empty foundations and gutted homes. I saw a mountain side with a massive wound exposing her core of rock and solid granite all the way to the top.
I saw my friends today... I understood when they said they would rather be home on a broken mountain versus any place in the world.
I stood in the rain today and I felt like the skies were crying with me. The destruction is unimaginable, the broken pieces overwhelming.
We are going to need a whole army to rebuild.
And I know God will send them.
I saw one of my favorite hollers today and I will never be the same.
November 17, 2024
Today I followed footprints in the sand...I climbed over and under fallen trees, I hunted for a path I knew I would find. I slid down a bank and got my hair caught in the broken branches. And there she was.. the Glorious South Toe River. A hidden section that captured my soul four seasons ago. We spent the winter clearing paths, we spent the spring hiking among the thick mountain laurels and exploring hidden coves, we spent the summer soaking up the sun and ever so gently floating down the river. I've spent the fall devastated that she was destroyed.
And so I followed these footprints in the sand, to see my friend. Her banks filled with debris two stories high, sheared off rock cliffs exposing her solid foundation, the sandy beach we had picnics on no where to be found, the beautiful trees laid down like fallen domino's, the branches holding on to tattered remindts of someome else's life from upstream.
As I followed the footprints in the sand, I discovered new beaches and islands formed out of the destruction, I walked along new rock islands and jumped over the new boulders that had rolled down stream. I found my favorite rock island still there and walked out to the end. In the middle of the river with complete devastation along both sides, feeling overwhelmed and too small to make a difference.
I bent down to touch the water I so desperately needed to feel again. It was crystal clear and ice cold, exactly how she was the last time we visited. She is once again the gentle flowing life force that has carved the South Toe Valley. Her banks may be broken but still she flows.
I sat with the South Toe River today... and she shared her strength with me.
November 19, 2024
For weeks all I have seen is complete devastation..A creek that changed its path
A gentle river with collapsed banks & broken bridges
A stone foundation missing its house
A magnificent tree shattered across the road
A massive landslide that ripped open the mountain, exposing ancient rock formations for the first time in millions of years
A hundred cars lay crushed in creeks and fields
A missing bridge with a board and rope to shimmy across
A roll of hay still cozy in its white plastic wrap covered in branches and debris, two stories high and
held together by a tree that refused to break
A home being torn down, it's contents picked up by a truck and hauled away
A family searching for their most sacred treasures
A beautiful flag used to lead a procession
A memorial to a missing loved one
A thousand reasons to feel helpless & unable to heal the devastation
But then I saw an Eagle fly
And I was reminded who made me
Who first brushed their finger tips along the river beds to shape the path
Who lifted the mountian tops towards the clouds, creating ridges and valleys that rise and fall for miles with every breath you take
Who hung the stars in the sky
Who would send an army to help us Rebuild Hollers... Come Hell or High Waters
November 24, 2024
I believe in miracles.I believe in God and the way he whispers to our spirit.
I believe because I have walked in pure faith everyday & God has introduced me to the most incredible people.
For the last 58 days he has sent so much love and supplies to the mountains.
God knew we would need you, so he whispered to your heart and here you came.
You brought everything we have needed to stabilize a family with unimaginable destruction all around their homes and the roads they drive everyday. We were able to give them food, water, heat, tools, tents and camp stoves. We have handed out endless generators & chainsaws to make sure everyone has power + back up power.
With so many homes, driveways, bridges, creeks, rivers & trees already in a seriously compromised situation, these tools have made a tremendous impact. The chainsaws & tools have given our Mountain Men a sparkle of hope that someone cares. That they haven't been forgotten as they muck out and figure out how to rebuild. Homes gone, workshops gone, barns and favorite critters... also gone. Farmers hearts completely shattered because their farms were washed away. Homes filling up with mold. Insurance claims denied, fema offering pennies and surprise you can't borrow money on a house that isn't there. State regulations blocking building permits and making the process incredibly difficult if not impossible for an American family. And now.. it's winter in the mountains...
We are in a real situation here in Yancey & Mitchell County.
I know we will need an army...
But I also know God will send them!
December 15, 2024
Sometimes I day dream...I day dream about the day before the storm.
I laugh at myself and the fabulous 6 property open house tour I had scheduled for that weekend. A few of those properties washed away, some were completely under water. My new routine is to kick the box beside my desk that still has the stupid open house signs, balloons and magazines in it.
I day dream about the week before the storm.
I had just listed a super cute tiny house, had 7 properties under contract and was so excited for the fall season to see the leaves change, eagerly awaiting the first sparkley snow flakes that always make my heart flutter. Now the trees lay everywhere, brown leaves still attached and snow makes me so mad, it still sparkles, but now I cry instead of smile. Knowing somewhere someone is cold and struggling to keep their family warm.
I day dream about the month before the storm.
Oh what a time we had floating down the Toe River, my Husband, Daughter & I... shaded by trees no longer there, soaking up the water that's now too toxic to touch, enjoying a picnic on a sand bar that vanished. I watch those videos on repeat, selfishly mad as hell that in my lifetime I will never experience it like that again.. wishing I had known that would be my last ride.
After a good day dream, the crashing reality hits. My favorite place in the world is completely destroyed. My community rocked to its core, trauma chasing us at every corner... trees popping, rain pouring, water rising, wind blowing. All of it brings us back to the day of the storm... how we were trapped, how some didn't make it, how some made it out by climbing the mountain behind their home, how our families from off begged for information bc it was radio silence in the mountains. How the apocalypse happened right here in Western North Carolina and the government has and continues to abandon us. How we are still here, fighting like hell to rebuild.
Thousands of homes destroyed, our community members living day by day so thankful of the generosity of others yet yearning for their home and everything dear to them that is scattered along the river banks.
Sometimes my spirit is so overwhelmed because I know the need and still can't fix it all, sometimes I can't breathe for the tears, and sometimes I run for the woods and the rivers that are so destroyed to find the calm and peace that my spirit craves.
Hysterical on the way there, certain that I can't see the road for the tears, and then I pull up to the gate.. I feel the cloud begin lift.. I feel the comfort of her hug as I drive down the path with trees down on everyside, so thankful for my friend that cut the path so I could squeeze thru... I feel a tiny tickle of excitement as I uncover my ride down to the river.. I drive the gator as hard as it will go to get to her.. I catch a glimpse on the way down and head to the trail covered in trees & debris. Climbing up & over and crawling under brush and massive trees until our paths collide.. gently walking along her banks. I take a seat on a new rock that has appeared and prepare to let it all out, but she already knows. In that breath my tears are gone, my spirit is reminded of its strength and I feel all my sadness wash away.
This is where you can find me... sitting with my friend.
My heart is still broken, my spirit is still shattered but with one touch of her ice cold water I am reminded who made me and why I will keep fighting to rebuild our incredible community.
December 25, 2024
A Real Christmas Miracle..I've never actually liked Christmas... the event, the holiday itself, the night before or the morning of.
For me it's always been extremely stressful. Unreasonable expectations, dressing up, uncomfortable dinners and fake family members. Hurrying from one event to the next, desperate for a moment with my family, stuck in traffic or lines with hangry shoppers. Spending hard earned money on gifts folks don't appreciate. Going into debt so maybe they will know how much I care. Being disappointed every single time by their reaction to a gift or my attempt to bring a favorite dish to the gathering.
Someone I love pretends to be "santa" year round, it is so traumatizing... I despise "santa" on every single level.
Big fat guy walking around saying "ho ho ho"... yeah it doesn't sit right with me at all. The babies get it completely... I also hate santa.
So we don't participate.
My teny tiny family doesn't do Christmas at all.
We do propaganda presents... that way my kid feels "normal" but isn't exposed or hurt by the traditions that have tortured me all of my childhood & most of my adulthood.
Propaganda presents is where its at, no more being over whelmed by a bunch of presents at one time. She gets one a day, every day for the month of December, except Christmas Day. On Christmas Day we do something fun, together, just the three of us. It is so magical. I love it so much.
But then the Storm of 2024 happened... although it's nearly been 3 months we are still living in its full wrath here in Western North Carolina.
Yet out of the destruction and devastation I have fallen deeper in love with my community and their most beautiful souls. It never crossed my mind the 1st day handing out what little food we had that it would continue and grow and evolve the way it has... yet here we are.
Living in the hollers & valleys of the most incredible mountains, guided by God to give freely with no strings attached, supported by all of America that has brought us everything we have needed. We are beginning to heal. My own very grinchy heart has begun to glow.
A precious friend that started as a volunteer made sure my girl had a Christmas tree.
A lifelong friend made sure my girl had all the propaganda presents.
That same friend pretty much forced me to take on a toy section at the distribution hub, I didn't mind... under the guise that I knew parents would miss the toy events and still need things... I didn't know then, that it was exactly what I needed too.
Because of parents coming to get the toys, I met so many more neighbors that need our help for their rebuilding. I get so excited to give away tools and building materials that I'll abandon the toys in a second to show my neighbors what else we have for them.
On Christmas Eve, I met another friend that lost his entire wood shop. The way he makes a living is completely gone. So I do what I do best, I started loading him up with the tools I had, making mental notes of the things he would need as he started his rebuild. The big tools & pieces of machinery he needs aren't cheap and it probably took him a lifetime to collect them, some probably passed down from his Papaw.. so I'm excited to plan the replacement and who I need to call...
My new friend leaves the hub excited and smiling, I am so thankful & quickly get distracted with my next new friend that needs building materials or supplies or sometimes just a hug.
About an hour later I am so surprised to see my new wood shop friend come back, sometimes I panic bc Mountain Men... they are different. They may decide not to take the tools and want to give them back, and I cannot have that.
But instead he looks up at me and smiles the most beautiful smile, one I'm certain he hasn't smiled in 3 months and said, I brought you a present.
Me? But I'm the giver of presents, and tools, and building materials. Why would he want to give me a present?
I open the christmas bag and find the most beautiful wooden bowls. A large one and a small one. His bowls, his beautiful hand crafted bowls that he turned from narley burls into the most beautiful bowl with his shop equipment that is no longer there. Two pieces of his art, of his craft that he can not currently re-create because his shop is gone, and yet he decided to give them to me.
To say it is one of my favorite gifts of all time is an understatement. It's top of the list favorite. I'm going to look at them and touch them every single day. And every time I do, it will remind me how many shops and barns and homes are left to rebuild here in my favorite place on earth.
Here where people love unconditionally and pure love flows like the river. It can be overwhelming or it can be gentle but either way it will cut its own path, straight to your heart.
Merry Christmas My Friends... may your spirit be full and may you feel the true unconditional love that Jesus first shared with the world.
God is so very real and in his love is the true magic of Christmas.
December 29, 2024
I wrote this specifically for our online Burnsville Hub community that has went a little crazy since the storm, I am sharing it on my personal social at the request of my friends so everyone has a little better understanding of what we are experiencing every day...I love ya'll! I am so thankful for everyone that has come and helped us and loved on us!
------------------------------------
Hello Burnsville Hub
I am a local, my family and I lived here before the storm and I'd like to offer some information to folks that have never heard of Burnsville or Spruce Pine before the storm.
I'd like to start by saying this group was a small community page before the storm. It grew intensely as folks were searching for loved ones in the days and weeks after the storm. Since then so many folks from all over the country have come to help us & we have been so very thankful. Because without ya'll coming and bringing us what we have needed we wouldn't have had anything for our community members.
Its been 12 weeks since the storm destroyed the greatest place on earth. 12 weeks since our world here in Yancey & Mitchell Counties was turned upside down. We lost friends & family members, homes, businesses, farms, vehicles, barns, tools, workshops... you name it and it washed down the rivers.
We are about an hour to Asheville NC or an hour + 30 minutes the other direction to Boone NC. An hour a different direction to Johnson City TN. An hour to Marion down by I-40. We are tucked in between the Blue Ridge Parkway & the Appalachian Trail. We are in the middle of places, but at least an hour from most. We have a small population. About 33,373 people in two counties.
We have small locally owned businesses that offer everything we need. We live in the greatest Small Town Mountain bubble there has ever been.
The morning of September 27 that protective bubble was absolutely shattered. We have 3 large rivers & many bold creeks that run through the two counties and in different sections they all combine into the Toe River. This is why we had so much widespread destruction in so many hollers and small communities. There was just too much water and as the mountains ripped open and landslides joined into the flow of the water, the debris backed up and broke almost all of our bridges. We were cut off from the world, with no power, no cell phones, no internet, cash only society and we were trapped in every holler, that is until the Mountain Men started digging and cutting us a way out.
We are a proud group of Americans and we have been so very thankful for all of America that has come to help us. Now that we are rolling into month three after the storm, we are still absolutely struggling to rebuild. Insurance isn't paying, fema is a joke, and so many of our neighbors do not have the resources to rebuild without help.
We are in the rebuilding stage, there are certain things we need and there are certain things we do not need.
Speaking of things we do not need, I would like to explain why you may see a community member call out what we call "con-camps" here in the Burnsville Hub. These are basically traveling camps that roll in after a disaster, set up camp and put on a show of "help" on the socials, however not all of them are here to help. They have taken valuable supplies and resources to sell or utilize in a way that is not to a benefit to the community. They have been arrested for trespassing and even one was arrested just last week for trafficking a kilo of cocaine to one of the "camps" in our small mountain town. These are not the groups that will help us rebuild. These are not the types of folks we want living in our already very devastated community. These are not the types of folks that our elderly community members can depend on to help them rebuild. And honestly, we want them to leave. But as long as you don't understand what we are actually dealing with, you don't understand how to help us.
I post this so you understand not only our struggles but also our commitment to rebuild our communities. We will do whatever it takes and we absolutely need your help. But please before you vouch for or donate to a group with a Facebook page, pretty please consider coming to check them out. Take the sniff test. Are they helping us or hurting us? Trust your own discernment to decide if they are true. Because if they are hurting us, then we know you don't want to help them do that. We have valuable community members that are steady paying attention to them and if you will read the comments you will see where our community members have tried to warn people and call out the con artistry.
We aren't trying to ride on a high horse or be ungrateful, but we desperately need folks with skills and abilities to help us build back. And we definitely do not need homeless drug addicts that followed the destruction of the storm from community to community, moving from one place to the next as they get caught scamming. Landing here, in our shattered bubble... where we are perfectly positioned to be vulnerable and desperate for help.
The night of the storm I was just a local realtor... 12 weeks later I am the accidental founder of Rebuilding Hollers Foundation.
I have personally been helping my community since my family made it out the holler. What started as a tiny tent giving out food quickly grew into a massive distribution hub in Roses Parking Lot, right before winter hit us with full force we shifted to an inside location in the same complex.
We have been there every day (except Sundays now) & have talked with thousands of our community members throughout the 12 weeks. We know their stories, we know their struggles and we are doing everything in our power to get them what they need to just step by step rebuild.
We will keep doing whatever it takes to help the folks of Yancey & Mitchell county to get the help they need. We have moved heavily into building materials, supplies & tools. We will continue to evolve into rebuilding homes and help our neighbors clean their properties and rebuild their lives.
Since we are 100% local and never knew we needed a 501c3 non profit before the storm, we didn't have one on standby. However we have completed the paperwork and expect our approvals any moment. I say that so you know our status, bc it does matter and like my neighbors waiting on a fema response... waiting on the gov to complete our paperwork seems to take forever.
But we are here, doing whatever it takes to help our communities put the pieces back together.
We do have many local organizations that have been doing an amazing job to help our communities & we encourage you to explore them as well if you are looking for ways to help! The way you will know they are local 1st off is their area code. Here our area code is (828).
As you are looking into how to effectively help us, pretty please consider what the locals are saying. We live here, this is our home, this is where we raised our families. And all of our favorite places are completely destroyed.
We need your help and we will continue to need your help for a long time.
Thank you for reading.
Thank you for helping.
You are more than welcome to check out my personal page. Everything is there... from the days before the storm when I was floating with my family down the glorious Toe River & selling hidden hollers to Mountain Tops... to the last 12 weeks where my family, friends, & I have done everything we can to help our neighbors and friends.
This is our home, this is our community and we desperately need your help to rebuild for months & years to come.
Follows along as we lead the charge!
It's going to take an Army, and we know God will send them.
January 1, 2025
A moment in time..Is how we calculate time a broken system
Does the hand on the clock really count the moments
Do the moments really add up to our whole lives
The moment a baby is born
The moment a loved one goes to glory
Both written down on the documents, both just a moment
The moments of pure happiness
The moments we take pictures of
The moments our cheeks hurt from laughing
The moments we swear we will never forget
The moments of unimaginable sadness
The moments when going on seem impossible
The moments where tapping out screams the best solution
The moments that scar our soul, yet no one knows
Inbetween these moments is where we live our life
The normal moments
Brushing our teeth
Going to work
Stuck in traffic
Going to the grocery store
Daydreaming about the life our soul craves
Yet living the life society requires of us
Following the rules
Doing what society says
Fitting in the box so perfectly set before us
Squeezing in so we don't stand out
Sending our babies to daycare instead of staying home
Sending our babies to public school instead of homeschool
Sending our babies to college instead of trade school
Preparing our own babies for the box society requires
Just another moment in time
Just a moment and they are grown
We missed it
Distracted by the socials
Distracted by the job requirement
Distracted trying to stay alive
Distracted just to pay the bills
Distracted by the devil that's just doing his job
Another moment in time, seconds that moved so quickly
The things you swore you could never forget, forgotten
The things you wish you could forget, play on repeat
Why does that moment stay, while others vanish
Why does a moment of fear implant differently
While a moment of happiness requires photos
How did the devil convince the world...
That we are only moments
That moments are meant to be forgotten
That right now, right here, this is all we have
How did we forget..
That our souls live forever
That this life is just a moment of eternity
That God is real
That God walks with us everyday, no matter the moment
On this day, a fresh day in a new moment
A new calendar year
Take a moment to reflect
Take a moment to be brave
Take a moment to step outside the box
Take a moment to change the world
Take a moment to be who you were born to be
After-all, what's a moment when we have eternity