September 5, 2025 • 17 mins
What happens when disaster strikes and the world moves on, but families are still living in tents? Brittany Roland refused to look away.
When Hurricane Helene devastated Henderson County, Brittany's journey began with a simple act—opening her home to two disaster relief workers. This spark of generosity ignited a grassroots movement that continues nearly a year later, transforming the lives of countless families who lost everything.
From the makeshift hub at Refuge Baptist Church, Brittany coordinated supply deliveries to communities cut off by washed-out roads and bridges. But she quickly recognized that immediate relief wasn't enough. Discovering people still living in tents months after the storm, she declared: "No one should be living in a tent." This conviction drove her to source campers and tiny homes, creating dignified temporary housing for displaced families.
The challenges proved relentless. When 35 families faced homelessness after their FEMA vouchers expired at a local motel, Brittany mobilized private investors to cover accommodation costs while finding longer-term solutions. Her "Blessing Box" initiative now provides ongoing access to food, toiletries, and essential supplies in community locations, restocked regularly through donations.
What makes Brittany's story remarkable is that she herself was a hurricane victim. While dealing with her own recovery, she chose to focus on those who had lost everything. Without forming an official organization, she's channeled resources directly to families through social media, personal connections, and an Amazon wish list—proving that sometimes the most effective disaster response comes from within the community itself.
As Henderson County approaches the one-year mark since Helene, Brittany continues her daily mission—securing propane for winter heating, arranging water tanks for tiny homes, and ensuring no neighbor is forgotten in what she calls "a marathon" of recovery. Her story reminds us that when disaster fades from headlines, true heroes emerge in the long, quiet work of rebuilding lives.
Want to support hurricane recovery efforts in your community? Follow Brittany's example and look for the gaps where ongoing needs aren't being met. Sometimes the smallest blessing box can make the biggest difference.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The George Real Estate Group radio broadcast is
celebrating 10 years on WHKP.
The George Real Estate Group iscelebrating 10 years on the
radio, live every Thursdaymorning at 10.05 on WHKP 107.7
FM and AM 1450 and streamingonline at WHkpcom.
(00:24):
Each Friday morning at 845,.
The George Real Estate Grouppresents the Hometown Hero Award
to someone in our community whogoes above and beyond to make
our hometown a better place tolive.
Here's this week's HometownHero Show.
It's 845, and it's always timeon Friday mornings at 845 to
(00:47):
check in with our HometownHeroes series and the George
Real Estate Group HometownHeroes series.
And Noah always joins us fromthe George Real Estate Group
with positive news on the realestate market.
How you doing, noah?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, so much to be thankful for and happy Friday.
And certainly our HometownHeroes series is the highlight
of the week.
You and I always come aroundthe mics and get to hear some
incredible men and women sharetheir stories People doing
incredible work in thiscommunity.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
We really do and we enjoy it so much.
It's, like you said, thehighlight of the week when we
get together to do this.
Now we also get to check inwith you on the current market
conditions with real estate.
So tell us what's going on.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Well, be careful about the news they're trying to
promote.
The sky's falling and you knownothing's happening.
But that's just not the case.
Henderson County is stillaveraging 126 single family
homes a month selling.
Now inventory levels are higher, which means there's more
choices for buyers, and sellersare going to have to be a little
bit more patient.
Days on markets, closer to 60days on the market, when it used
(01:57):
to be, you know, 20 and 30 dayson the market was more average,
but it has taken.
It takes a little bit more timeon average, but when you price
your home correctly you canreally stand out from the other
homes for sale and in some casesyou'll end up getting more than
starting high and chasing itdown, which we tend to see.
(02:17):
But again, it seemscounterintuitive.
But when you price it where itshould be, you're still getting.
We're still seeing multipleoffers happen.
There's still a lot of buyerson the market.
Interest rates have been comingdown, so it's becoming more of
a balanced market, notnecessarily a seller's or a
buyer's market, but it's a morebalanced market than what we
(02:37):
experienced over the last fewyears here in.
Henderson County.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
And I keep hearing that.
And from a layman's standpointlooking in on the real estate
market, I keep hearing if youprice it right, that seems to be
the common.
Well, that's always the case.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
But if you price it right, it will move and the
truth is you'll end up gettingmore up front at the beginning
than waiting and chasing it down, and then buyers think there's
something wrong with it and thenthey want to beat you up and
you know, and so there's a wholepsychological piece to that.
But it it is possible.
By the way, over 1500 homeshave sold in the last 12 months.
That's 126 homes a monthselling henderson county.
(03:12):
There's some.
There's actually 701 activehomes on the market.
Again, the market is healthy,it's stable, you know it's.
There's no need for panic orconcern.
I mean it's, it's softening,but the sky is not falling and
again, you got to be carefulwith the news and what they're
putting out there.
But interest rates are comingdown.
It is what it is and we live insuch an incredible place.
(03:35):
People want to live here forthe quality of life, the
incredible community and this isone of the reasons we sponsored
the Hometown Heroes seriesbecause, again, the incredible
men and women that live andserve in this community and all
types of aspects, whether it'ssmall businesses or law
enforcement or teachers or ourvolunteers, and just men and
women that make our communitywhat it is and it's contagious.
(03:56):
People want to live here inHenderson County and call it
home and call it home.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
And you see that all the time and you guys at the
George Real Estate Group, yourhouse full of agents have walked
buyers and sellers through mostevery circumstance there is.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Well, we continue to be.
We certainly have experienced alot, and don't pretend to see it
all and I'm sure we'll neversee it all, but we've had the
experience of helping over 1,600families with their real estate
needs throughout the years.
We have incredible staff,incredible team.
We serve Western North Carolinaand upstate South Carolina,
greenville and Spartanburgcounties and we have agents in
(04:32):
South Carolina.
But we're grateful to serve thecommunity through real estate.
You can find us online atrealestatebygregcom.
We podcast all of our radioshows.
You can call us directly at828-393-0134 and connect with us
.
Follow us on social media.
We have open houses.
We have new listings.
You can see we're also stillhiring more agents.
I mean, it's a great time toget into the industry.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
That's great, that's great.
Well, join me, noah, inwelcoming Brittany Rowland to
the studios.
Brittany, scoot up to that micand say good morning.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Good morning.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Good.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
We appreciate you coming in here today to talk
with us.
I'll be upfront and honest withyou.
Ms Pat Shepard and Johnny werethe folks who said you should
talk to Brittany, becauseBrittany's doing a lot in our
community to help the victims ofHelene and there are still
people who need help right.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Yes, it's still ongoing.
We haven't stopped.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Well, tell us a little bit about how you got
started and what you'recontinuing to do.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Okay.
So it all started.
I have a friend, whitney.
She's from Nashville, tennessee.
We're childhood best friends.
She actually called me thefollowing day of the hurricane
and said she had a group of guysthat were coming here CRR it's
Crisis Recovery Relief Group.
They're from up north.
They come down and they kind ofcheck out things.
(06:03):
They have a whole crew thatwill help hurricane victims.
And she actually had said Ihave two guys needing somewhere
to stay.
They can stay in their truck,but do you have anywhere for
them to go?
So I called my husband rightaway and I said Whitney would
never put us in a situation.
There's two guys that needsomewhere to stay, can we have a
(06:25):
hole upstairs?
So they stayed with us.
It was about 1030 at night theycame, they stayed with us for a
week, they went back home andthen their whole crew came back
and they stayed at RefugeBaptist Church in their
community building.
And that is where we startedour hub.
That is where, when everythingpeople were donating, basically
(06:49):
like phase one supplies all ofyour everyday essentials.
We used the bottom of the church.
Pastor Greg and Laura were sowelcoming of us and letting us
to use their hub for ourcommunity.
So we started out there.
We had, um, obviously, we werewithout power for two weeks.
Power water you barely, I stillremember you barely got any
(07:11):
cell phone service.
You had to like go out and onceyou had service, you're like,
oh my gosh, I have service.
You're like, oh my gosh, I haveservice.
So we had friends from Georgia,tennessee, travelers, rest,
coming up here with ATVs.
They were taking supplies fromour hub and going into
communities.
Roads were washed away, theyhad no bridges, they had no way
to get out of their home, so wehad that crew at first.
(07:36):
Then I met a friend.
I went over to swananoa areaand, um, I had a friend, chris
otaka.
She has her own ministry and Imet her and we started.
We were finding people livingin tents and my thing is no one
should be living in a tent Idon't care anyone, I mean
especially all these people thatlost everything.
(07:59):
So we were, we teamed uptogether.
We were finding um campers,tiny homes left and right,
trying to get these families inout of tents and into something
because they had lost everything, and that was another thing.
A lot of people don't realizepeople that didn't own property
or land, they had nowhere to go.
So trying to find when we didhave a camper, trying to find
(08:24):
somewhere to put that camper,trying to find somewhere to put
the tiny home, was verychallenging on our part but we
found some places.
We had donations coming in.
Um, we found some rv parks.
We do have some families thatare in tiny homes that were
still.
It was their property, so thetiny home is on their property.
(08:44):
Christmas time rolled around.
We had about 10 families thathad lost everything in the
community and we helped out.
We helped do an Amazon wishlist and people purchased off of
them and we supplied allChristmas for these families.
Then it was January.
The beginning of January myaunt had called me and there
were 35 families in the BestWestern Motel that their
(09:07):
vouchers, their FEMA vouchers,were ending.
So I knew I had to do something.
So we had donations coming inleft and right.
We paid for them to stay thatfull weekend and then I had some
private investors.
I had about four privateinvestors that paid a week at a
time, two weeks at a time forthese families to stay there
(09:28):
while we figured out, becausethat was another thing.
Trying to find people to donatecampers isn't as easy as you
think it is.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
I can imagine.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
We had all over.
People were bringing theircampers down, hiring trucking
businesses to transport theircampers.
So we started doing that.
We were getting people incampers, tiny homes, and that is
another thing.
I cannot say I'm doing this allby myself, because I'm not.
(10:00):
It is one of those things where, say, chris and I got a camper
for someone and then there wereother hubs that donated the
supplies or we had the suppliesand they had the camper.
So it's, we have a lot ofpeople we work with in the
community but we are stillproviding for these families.
(10:23):
We're making sure they'restocked up.
Now we're about to go intowinter months where they're
going to need propane, all ofthat type of stuff, and a lot of
people don't realize withcampers in the winter months
there's a lot to do to campersand I learned that you got to
winterize them.
(10:43):
No idea you have.
I mean, it's a lot to do.
So we're still helping families.
We are.
I did start a blessing box inDana, our community, at the
community park and I startedthat back in March to help out
some families in our community.
Um, my goal is I want to put upmore blessing box boxes in
(11:06):
Henderson County, but that iswhere my heart is right now.
Um, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Incredible, I mean by the way you, you, I mean you
are.
You experienced a hurricane,like all of us, right, yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Yourself.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, but what was within you?
You said I have to do something, like I mean, was there a
catalyst?
I mean the phone calls justcoming in the phone calls.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
The text, I mean it was left and right people
wanting to help and I knew in myheart this is where God led me
and wanted me to be.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
And you showed up.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Yeah, and still going almost a year later.
And it's not.
I mean a lot of people don'trealize there are still bridges
being put in in differentcommunities.
People are still living incampers.
Campers obviously are not along-term situation, but when
you have no family around, youhave no property.
(11:59):
I mean it's better than livingout on the streets in a tent.
Yeah, it's perspective, right.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Was there any?
Was this done?
And this was organically.
This was done.
I mean maybe unofficially.
I mean, did you guys end upsetting up a nonprofit?
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Or I mean you've just been sharing resources and
connecting people that needthings and what we would do is
we would post there are otherconnections that we have that
like the other side of NorthCarolina.
His name's Wayne.
He owns Deep River Farms.
He's a YouTuber.
His name's Wayne, he owns DeepRiver Farms, he's a YouTuber and
(12:35):
he does YouTube videos and putsChris her information, my
information, and we have anAmazon wish list and people just
purchase and they will donatefunds to help us and it's all.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
And then you're getting it to the people.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
To the families, yeah , you talked about blessing
boxes.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
What are blessing boxes?
Speaker 3 (12:53):
So a blessing box is basically your everyday
essential needs, fromnon-perishable item, foods to
diapers, to toiletry items.
I've also put in some likelittle toys for kids.
Little toys for kids, it's justeverything and anything you
(13:16):
think of that you may need andthat you could use in an
everyday scenario.
So that is for anyone to takeand we restock it every two to
three days from Refuge BaptistChurch.
That's where we get oursupplies from and our hub is
still there.
It is not open to the public,but that's where I mean.
Like I said, we restock everytwo to three days.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Is that where folks could take items?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yes, people can take and I've had a lot of people
because obviously I've posted iton my Facebook page, people
have shared it, people knowabout it, so you can take an
item and then there's alwayspeople that are bringing stuff
like if you have canned food orif you have extra of anything
laying around that you don'tneed go put it in the blessing
(14:02):
box, because I think ourcommunity.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
it's hard to believe but this is still a long road of
recovery and a marathon aheadof us and even though we're
coming up on a year I mean everysingle day you're still working
through this and helping people.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Today, a year later, and there's still families Like
the one family that's in a tinyhome.
We had to get electricity forher.
We had to get water to her tinyhome so we had to get one of
those huge water I don't knowwhat they're exactly called,
those water tanks so we've hadto do stuff like that.
We're still we're helping outfamilies paying rent at
(14:36):
campgrounds, at their spots.
I mean, because a lot of people, yeah, they are going back to
work, but they've lost so muchand that's what people don't
realize how much they've lost.
They've literally losteverything.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Brittany, that's fantastic.
We just thank you so much forwhat you're doing and thank all
all the people that arecontributing to you to make sure
it gets to the, to the victims.
Uh, we're so grateful uh, andwe are continuing to highlight
the folks around our area.
Next week on our uh george realestate group hometown hero
(15:08):
series, we'll have lynn and markstaten with Bat Cave Disaster
Relief with us.
And Noah, we've got acertificate for Brittany here.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Thank you so much for all you've done.
And again we just have a coupleseconds, but what's the best
way for people to get hold ofyou if they want to donate or
give?
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I'm on Facebook.
Yes, I'm in the process ofputting together a Facebook page
for the Blessing Box, thank youso much.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Join us next week for our George Real Estate Group
Hometown Hero Series.
The George Real Estate Group islocated in Flat Rock, north
Carolina, near Hendersonville inHenderson County.
You can find them online atrealestatebygregcom.
Real Estate by Gregcom.
The George Real Estate Groupcan be reached at 828-393-0134
(15:57):
or stop by their office at 2720Greenville Highway, flat Rock,
north Carolina.
Tune in live each week onThursdays at 10.05 am on WHKP
(16:21):
107.7 FM and 1450 am, or streamonline at whkpcom or download
these podcasts wherever you getyour podcasts.
The George real estate groupbrings you the WHKP hometown
hero series every Friday morningat eight 45.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Maybe the house feels a little too big these days,
the stairs a little steeper, thepace of life a little too fast.
But what if your next movewasn't about letting go.
It was about making space Forpeace, for freedom, for what
matters most?
At the George Real Estate Group, we understand that real estate
(16:52):
isn't just about the house.
It's about transitions, timingand trust.
We've helped thousands offamilies in Western North
Carolina make smart, thoughtfulmoves Closer to nature, closer
to family, closer to home.
So when you're ready toright-size, simplify or start
fresh, we'll be here.
(17:13):
The George Real Estate GroupLocal, trusted, proven.
Call us today 828-393-0134.
Find us online atrealestatebygregcom, because
your next chapter deserves tofeel just right.
The George Real Estate Group radio broadcast is
celebrating 10 years on WHKP.
The George Real Estate Group iscelebrating 10 years on the
radio, live every Thursdaymorning at 10.05 on WHKP 107.7
FM and AM 1450 and streamingonline at WHkpcom.
(00:24):
Each Friday morning at 845,.
The George Real Estate Grouppresents the Hometown Hero Award
to someone in our community whogoes above and beyond to make
our hometown a better place tolive.
Here's this week's HometownHero Show.
It's 845, and it's always timeon Friday mornings at 845 to
(00:47):
check in with our HometownHeroes series and the George
Real Estate Group HometownHeroes series.
And Noah always joins us fromthe George Real Estate Group
with positive news on the realestate market.
How you doing, noah?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, so much to be thankful for and happy Friday.
And certainly our HometownHeroes series is the highlight
of the week.
You and I always come aroundthe mics and get to hear some
incredible men and women sharetheir stories People doing
incredible work in thiscommunity.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
We really do and we enjoy it so much.
It's, like you said, thehighlight of the week when we
get together to do this.
Now we also get to check inwith you on the current market
conditions with real estate.
So tell us what's going on.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Well, be careful about the news they're trying to
promote.
The sky's falling and you knownothing's happening.
But that's just not the case.
Henderson County is stillaveraging 126 single family
homes a month selling.
Now inventory levels are higher, which means there's more
choices for buyers, and sellersare going to have to be a little
bit more patient.
Days on markets, closer to 60days on the market, when it used
(01:57):
to be, you know, 20 and 30 dayson the market was more average,
but it has taken.
It takes a little bit more timeon average, but when you price
your home correctly you canreally stand out from the other
homes for sale and in some casesyou'll end up getting more than
starting high and chasing itdown, which we tend to see.
(02:17):
But again, it seemscounterintuitive.
But when you price it where itshould be, you're still getting.
We're still seeing multipleoffers happen.
There's still a lot of buyerson the market.
Interest rates have been comingdown, so it's becoming more of
a balanced market, notnecessarily a seller's or a
buyer's market, but it's a morebalanced market than what we
(02:37):
experienced over the last fewyears here in.
Henderson County.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
And I keep hearing that.
And from a layman's standpointlooking in on the real estate
market, I keep hearing if youprice it right, that seems to be
the common.
Well, that's always the case.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
But if you price it right, it will move and the
truth is you'll end up gettingmore up front at the beginning
than waiting and chasing it down, and then buyers think there's
something wrong with it and thenthey want to beat you up and
you know, and so there's a wholepsychological piece to that.
But it it is possible.
By the way, over 1500 homeshave sold in the last 12 months.
That's 126 homes a monthselling henderson county.
(03:12):
There's some.
There's actually 701 activehomes on the market.
Again, the market is healthy,it's stable, you know it's.
There's no need for panic orconcern.
I mean it's, it's softening,but the sky is not falling and
again, you got to be carefulwith the news and what they're
putting out there.
But interest rates are comingdown.
It is what it is and we live insuch an incredible place.
(03:35):
People want to live here forthe quality of life, the
incredible community and this isone of the reasons we sponsored
the Hometown Heroes seriesbecause, again, the incredible
men and women that live andserve in this community and all
types of aspects, whether it'ssmall businesses or law
enforcement or teachers or ourvolunteers, and just men and
women that make our communitywhat it is and it's contagious.
(03:56):
People want to live here inHenderson County and call it
home and call it home.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
And you see that all the time and you guys at the
George Real Estate Group, yourhouse full of agents have walked
buyers and sellers through mostevery circumstance there is.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Well, we continue to be.
We certainly have experienced alot, and don't pretend to see it
all and I'm sure we'll neversee it all, but we've had the
experience of helping over 1,600families with their real estate
needs throughout the years.
We have incredible staff,incredible team.
We serve Western North Carolinaand upstate South Carolina,
greenville and Spartanburgcounties and we have agents in
(04:32):
South Carolina.
But we're grateful to serve thecommunity through real estate.
You can find us online atrealestatebygregcom.
We podcast all of our radioshows.
You can call us directly at828-393-0134 and connect with us
.
Follow us on social media.
We have open houses.
We have new listings.
You can see we're also stillhiring more agents.
I mean, it's a great time toget into the industry.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
That's great, that's great.
Well, join me, noah, inwelcoming Brittany Rowland to
the studios.
Brittany, scoot up to that micand say good morning.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Good morning.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Good.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
We appreciate you coming in here today to talk
with us.
I'll be upfront and honest withyou.
Ms Pat Shepard and Johnny werethe folks who said you should
talk to Brittany, becauseBrittany's doing a lot in our
community to help the victims ofHelene and there are still
people who need help right.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Yes, it's still ongoing.
We haven't stopped.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Well, tell us a little bit about how you got
started and what you'recontinuing to do.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Okay.
So it all started.
I have a friend, whitney.
She's from Nashville, tennessee.
We're childhood best friends.
She actually called me thefollowing day of the hurricane
and said she had a group of guysthat were coming here CRR it's
Crisis Recovery Relief Group.
They're from up north.
They come down and they kind ofcheck out things.
(06:03):
They have a whole crew thatwill help hurricane victims.
And she actually had said Ihave two guys needing somewhere
to stay.
They can stay in their truck,but do you have anywhere for
them to go?
So I called my husband rightaway and I said Whitney would
never put us in a situation.
There's two guys that needsomewhere to stay, can we have a
(06:25):
hole upstairs?
So they stayed with us.
It was about 1030 at night theycame, they stayed with us for a
week, they went back home andthen their whole crew came back
and they stayed at RefugeBaptist Church in their
community building.
And that is where we startedour hub.
That is where, when everythingpeople were donating, basically
(06:49):
like phase one supplies all ofyour everyday essentials.
We used the bottom of the church.
Pastor Greg and Laura were sowelcoming of us and letting us
to use their hub for ourcommunity.
So we started out there.
We had, um, obviously, we werewithout power for two weeks.
Power water you barely, I stillremember you barely got any
(07:11):
cell phone service.
You had to like go out and onceyou had service, you're like,
oh my gosh, I have service.
You're like, oh my gosh, I haveservice.
So we had friends from Georgia,tennessee, travelers, rest,
coming up here with ATVs.
They were taking supplies fromour hub and going into
communities.
Roads were washed away, theyhad no bridges, they had no way
to get out of their home, so wehad that crew at first.
(07:36):
Then I met a friend.
I went over to swananoa areaand, um, I had a friend, chris
otaka.
She has her own ministry and Imet her and we started.
We were finding people livingin tents and my thing is no one
should be living in a tent Idon't care anyone, I mean
especially all these people thatlost everything.
(07:59):
So we were, we teamed uptogether.
We were finding um campers,tiny homes left and right,
trying to get these families inout of tents and into something
because they had lost everything, and that was another thing.
A lot of people don't realizepeople that didn't own property
or land, they had nowhere to go.
So trying to find when we didhave a camper, trying to find
(08:24):
somewhere to put that camper,trying to find somewhere to put
the tiny home, was verychallenging on our part but we
found some places.
We had donations coming in.
Um, we found some rv parks.
We do have some families thatare in tiny homes that were
still.
It was their property, so thetiny home is on their property.
(08:44):
Christmas time rolled around.
We had about 10 families thathad lost everything in the
community and we helped out.
We helped do an Amazon wishlist and people purchased off of
them and we supplied allChristmas for these families.
Then it was January.
The beginning of January myaunt had called me and there
were 35 families in the BestWestern Motel that their
(09:07):
vouchers, their FEMA vouchers,were ending.
So I knew I had to do something.
So we had donations coming inleft and right.
We paid for them to stay thatfull weekend and then I had some
private investors.
I had about four privateinvestors that paid a week at a
time, two weeks at a time forthese families to stay there
(09:28):
while we figured out, becausethat was another thing.
Trying to find people to donatecampers isn't as easy as you
think it is.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
I can imagine.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
We had all over.
People were bringing theircampers down, hiring trucking
businesses to transport theircampers.
So we started doing that.
We were getting people incampers, tiny homes, and that is
another thing.
I cannot say I'm doing this allby myself, because I'm not.
(10:00):
It is one of those things where, say, chris and I got a camper
for someone and then there wereother hubs that donated the
supplies or we had the suppliesand they had the camper.
So it's, we have a lot ofpeople we work with in the
community but we are stillproviding for these families.
(10:23):
We're making sure they'restocked up.
Now we're about to go intowinter months where they're
going to need propane, all ofthat type of stuff, and a lot of
people don't realize withcampers in the winter months
there's a lot to do to campersand I learned that you got to
winterize them.
(10:43):
No idea you have.
I mean, it's a lot to do.
So we're still helping families.
We are.
I did start a blessing box inDana, our community, at the
community park and I startedthat back in March to help out
some families in our community.
Um, my goal is I want to put upmore blessing box boxes in
(11:06):
Henderson County, but that iswhere my heart is right now.
Um, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Incredible, I mean by the way you, you, I mean you
are.
You experienced a hurricane,like all of us, right, yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Yourself.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, but what was within you?
You said I have to do something, like I mean, was there a
catalyst?
I mean the phone calls justcoming in the phone calls.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
The text, I mean it was left and right people
wanting to help and I knew in myheart this is where God led me
and wanted me to be.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
And you showed up.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Yeah, and still going almost a year later.
And it's not.
I mean a lot of people don'trealize there are still bridges
being put in in differentcommunities.
People are still living incampers.
Campers obviously are not along-term situation, but when
you have no family around, youhave no property.
(11:59):
I mean it's better than livingout on the streets in a tent.
Yeah, it's perspective, right.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Was there any?
Was this done?
And this was organically.
This was done.
I mean maybe unofficially.
I mean, did you guys end upsetting up a nonprofit?
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Or I mean you've just been sharing resources and
connecting people that needthings and what we would do is
we would post there are otherconnections that we have that
like the other side of NorthCarolina.
His name's Wayne.
He owns Deep River Farms.
He's a YouTuber.
His name's Wayne, he owns DeepRiver Farms, he's a YouTuber and
(12:35):
he does YouTube videos and putsChris her information, my
information, and we have anAmazon wish list and people just
purchase and they will donatefunds to help us and it's all.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
And then you're getting it to the people.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
To the families, yeah , you talked about blessing
boxes.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
What are blessing boxes?
Speaker 3 (12:53):
So a blessing box is basically your everyday
essential needs, fromnon-perishable item, foods to
diapers, to toiletry items.
I've also put in some likelittle toys for kids.
Little toys for kids, it's justeverything and anything you
(13:16):
think of that you may need andthat you could use in an
everyday scenario.
So that is for anyone to takeand we restock it every two to
three days from Refuge BaptistChurch.
That's where we get oursupplies from and our hub is
still there.
It is not open to the public,but that's where I mean.
Like I said, we restock everytwo to three days.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Is that where folks could take items?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yes, people can take and I've had a lot of people
because obviously I've posted iton my Facebook page, people
have shared it, people knowabout it, so you can take an
item and then there's alwayspeople that are bringing stuff
like if you have canned food orif you have extra of anything
laying around that you don'tneed go put it in the blessing
(14:02):
box, because I think ourcommunity.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
it's hard to believe but this is still a long road of
recovery and a marathon aheadof us and even though we're
coming up on a year I mean everysingle day you're still working
through this and helping people.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Today, a year later, and there's still families Like
the one family that's in a tinyhome.
We had to get electricity forher.
We had to get water to her tinyhome so we had to get one of
those huge water I don't knowwhat they're exactly called,
those water tanks so we've hadto do stuff like that.
We're still we're helping outfamilies paying rent at
(14:36):
campgrounds, at their spots.
I mean, because a lot of people, yeah, they are going back to
work, but they've lost so muchand that's what people don't
realize how much they've lost.
They've literally losteverything.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Brittany, that's fantastic.
We just thank you so much forwhat you're doing and thank all
all the people that arecontributing to you to make sure
it gets to the, to the victims.
Uh, we're so grateful uh, andwe are continuing to highlight
the folks around our area.
Next week on our uh george realestate group hometown hero
(15:08):
series, we'll have lynn and markstaten with Bat Cave Disaster
Relief with us.
And Noah, we've got acertificate for Brittany here.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Thank you so much for all you've done.
And again we just have a coupleseconds, but what's the best
way for people to get hold ofyou if they want to donate or
give?
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I'm on Facebook.
Yes, I'm in the process ofputting together a Facebook page
for the Blessing Box, thank youso much.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Join us next week for our George Real Estate Group
Hometown Hero Series.
The George Real Estate Group islocated in Flat Rock, north
Carolina, near Hendersonville inHenderson County.
You can find them online atrealestatebygregcom.
Real Estate by Gregcom.
The George Real Estate Groupcan be reached at 828-393-0134
(15:57):
or stop by their office at 2720Greenville Highway, flat Rock,
north Carolina.
Tune in live each week onThursdays at 10.05 am on WHKP
(16:21):
107.7 FM and 1450 am, or streamonline at whkpcom or download
these podcasts wherever you getyour podcasts.
The George real estate groupbrings you the WHKP hometown
hero series every Friday morningat eight 45.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Maybe the house feels a little too big these days,
the stairs a little steeper, thepace of life a little too fast.
But what if your next movewasn't about letting go.
It was about making space Forpeace, for freedom, for what
matters most?
At the George Real Estate Group, we understand that real estate
(16:52):
isn't just about the house.
It's about transitions, timingand trust.
We've helped thousands offamilies in Western North
Carolina make smart, thoughtfulmoves Closer to nature, closer
to family, closer to home.
So when you're ready toright-size, simplify or start
fresh, we'll be here.
(17:13):
The George Real Estate GroupLocal, trusted, proven.
Call us today 828-393-0134.
Find us online atrealestatebygregcom, because
your next chapter deserves tofeel just right.
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