Bonclarken Hurr c ne H ene
CHIP SHERER President
he Weather Channel’s projected path of Hurricane Helene pointed toward Western North Carolina, but we live in the mountains and are safe from hurricanes here. I assumed the storm would follow the pattern of other hurri- canes and lose all energy once over land. I was wrong to underestimate Hurricane Helene. Growing up in the western part of South Carolina, my family and I never worried about a hurricane hitting us. Un- til now, Hurricane Hugo (1989) was the most memorable hurricane of my lifetime. I was working at Erskine and living in Due West, SC, during Hugo, and we had just the outer bands of the storm. The brunt of Hugo went from Charleston to Rock Hill to Gastonia. In 2004 (during Jim Brice’s tenure as Director), Bonclarken was visited by Hurricane Ivan, with downed trees do- ing a good bit of damage. Helene raced through Georgia and South Carolina, and then stalled as she encountered the mountains of North Carolina. When the storm stalled, the torrential rainfall had nowhere to go and overwhelmed every waterway. The dev- staggering. So much loss of life, loss of homes, and loss of belongings. I’ve never been on the receiving end of help due to a weather emergency before and was stunned by how quickly we were contacted by people with this question: “What can I do to help?” Gasoline was a valued commodity and was delivered to us in containers of all sizes. Our grocery stores were picked clean, so basics like
T rrici ane Hellene
bread and milk were luxuries that friends brought our way as well.
Our immediate goal was to clean our Bonclarken roads so that emergency ve- hicles could come and go as needed. The began to have volunteers arrive on our grounds with their chainsaws in hand, ready to work. For the next 10 days (and continuing even now), we had a great number of volunteers from numerous ARP churches help our staff clean the debris. What a blessing each and every volunteer was to us. And what a blessing the tireless effort of our Bonclarken staff was as well. Our two local ARP Churches, Pinecrest and Reformation, were beacons of light to the community by providing meals, serv- ing as hosting sites for donations, and sim- ply helping those who needed help. The love of Christ was demonstrated over and over to anyone in need. A utility crew from Ontario, Canada, arrived on our grounds on day 10 and, within two days, had our power restored. These men were our heroes! Once recon- nected with the outside world, we realized the magnitude of the destruction in Ashe- ville, Swannanoa, and Chimney Rock. All of our staff knows of at least one family in the area who has lost a loved one. As I write this article, we are back to normal in most ways. We’ve been blessed to host guest groups since mid-October, and so many have thanked us for being available to them. We still have work to do in the low-lying areas around King Creek, repairs on roofs, and general cleanup. By next summer, we hope, except for the ab- sence of many large trees, our grounds are as beautiful as ever.
September 27, 2024, will long be re-
membered in Western North Carolina. As our community slowly returns to normal, our prayer is that the acts of neighborly love demonstrated over and over again will open hearts to the call of the Holy Spirit and the love of Jesus Christ.
January/February 2025
9
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
