SWANNANOA, N.C. — A global humanitarian nonprofit is helping rebuild a mobile home park in western North Carolina that was devastated by Helene.
Community Organized Relief Effort, or CORE, is an organization founded by Ann Lee in response to the earthquake in Haiti in 2010.
After Helene, the organization has been working on 28 homes with various degrees of damage in the mobile home park on Alan Campos Drive in Swannanoa. This community is within walking distance of the Swannanoa River.
“Everyone deserves a safe and healthy home. And that is one of the most important things that people need,” CORE Construction Site Supervisor Kirsty Greeno said.“Everyone deserves a safe and healthy home. And that is one of the most important things that people need,” CORE Construction Site Supervisor Kirsty Greeno said.
Maribel Lopez and her family also live in the community where the storm hit.
“It was horrible. I don’t wish that on anyone,” Lopez said.
She remembers the frantic moments when they realized they weren’t safe in their home anymore.
“I told my husband ‘let’s go’ because this is filling up. We got up and only grabbed a few things and we left with the water up to here,” Lopez said.
The family of five evacuated as the water rose waist high.
“Knowing that you are leaving your dream behind and I turned around and I said ‘God, what is going to happen to us?,'” Lopez said.
They waited out the storm at a friend’s home on higher ground and then when the water receded, the gravity of the situation took over.
“This is everything that we took out: our furniture, our clothes, our beds. Everything,” Lopez said.
This family, originally from Honduras, didn’t know where to turn.
“I was crying because I didn’t know what to do. We didn’t know what to do,” Lopez said.
Then, CORE stepped in to help.
“There is a large immigrant population here and they don’t always get the same access to the same kind of funds. It can be hard for them to understand the system,” Lopez said.
Volunteers and donations used to hire professionals have made it possible for CORE to help these families return home.
“They were all so happy and, just like the smiles and the relief I see in their faces make everything worth it,” Lopez said.
CORE covered most of the expenses and families put in hours helping rebuild their own homes.
“To us, everything was lost and we were going to let it be, but they came and offered us a hand. We were happy and we said, 'We are going to give it all we got,'” Lopez said.
Lopez said they wouldn’t have been able to afford the repairs, making the group an answered prayer.
“I’m very happy. I give God thanks because he allowed us to be here again,” Lopez said.
The organization began working in North Carolina in 2018 in response to Hurricane Florence. Since then, they have responded and led programs to prepare for natural disasters and supported communities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the Helene effort, they expect to complete the homes at the mobile home community on Alan Campos Drive by the end of March.
