National and local Catholic Charities officials visit areas devestated by Helene.CHARLOTTE — Catholic Charities USA has awarded $500,000 in disaster relief funding to the Diocese of Charlotte’s Catholic Charities agency – boosting its Helene Relief fundraising to $2.2 million, as the diocese evolves its emergency storm response toward long-term recovery efforts.
Navigating wreckage and cadaver search teams this week, national and local Catholic Charities officials have been visiting areas of Western North Carolina devastated by Tropical Storm Helene. On Wednesday, Kim Burgo, vice president of disaster operations for Catholic Charities USA, announced the grant to help the local agency in its long-term case management efforts.
"Catholic Charities USA is proud and blessed to be able to support Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte,” Burgo said. “They're doing a phenomenal job and certainly we will continue to support them through the many, many years of recovery to come."
Since Helene hit North Carolina, the diocese has marshaled staff and volunteers from its parishes, schools, central administration and Catholic Charities office to provide emergency supplies of food, water and other items to address basic needs of storm victims. More than half of the diocese’s 46 counties have been declared FEMA disaster areas.
Looking ahead, while some parishes may continue their supply lines, the response will shift toward Catholic Charities’ long-term efforts to help people rebuild their lives. Agency caseworkers will meet with and evaluate the needs of individual families affected by the storm and link them to resources they need.
“The destruction is beyond anything I’ve ever seen,” said local Catholic Charities executive director and CEO Dr. Gerry Carter. “The pictures of the water rising were horrific but when you see what happens when the water recedes, it’s beyond imagination.”
The Catholic Charities team on Wednesday visited Immaculata Catholic School in Hendersonville and St. Margaret Mary Church in Swannanoa – relief centers established and kept supplied by the diocese for nearly two weeks. They also toured the flooded-out Biltmore Village in Asheville and other restricted areas where authorities are still searching for people who remain unaccounted for.
“We’re learning that more than 1,000 jobs were lost just in that (Biltmore Village) area,” Carter said. “We saw entire buildings that were gone to the foundation, and block after block of devastation where nothing is left standing. The water was so strong it pushed down cinderblock walls and overturned train cars.”
Catholic Charities caseworkers will help people access FEMA and other government resources, and will evaluate people’s needs for food/water, shelter, improved safety, employment, childcare, medical and special personal needs. Staff will then help connect people to services that can address those needs.
“It’s important to remember that when you’ve lost everything, it can frequently take months, if not years, to be restored,” Carter said. In addition to helping the diocese provide “immediate financial assistance and the distribution of food, diapers and other essentials, we’ll also be there offering case management services to help rebuild and restore lives.”
—Catholic News Herald. Provided photos.