Hurricane Helene Update

Thank you for your many emails, calls, texts, and prayers of support. The eye of the hurricane passed directly over camp on Friday morning, shortly before I went out to check on things. The amount of water was stunning. Literal rivers flowed over roads and lawns, flooding pastures, tennis courts, and the soccer field. The barn area in particular saw a huge amount of flooding. Produce from the local stand floated across Tuxedo and made it to the Blob dock! Still, despite it all, we didn’t lose any big trees, and no buildings were damaged.

Apart from the massive cleanup job ahead of us, we are grateful to report that camp is fine and we were spared from major damage.

WNC, on the other hand, is devastated. Three days after the storm, most secondary roads are impassable, most people do not have water and power, cell service is spotty, gas is hard to find, and it will take a while for us to recover.

Our hearts are broken for those families who lost loved ones (at least 5 in Henderson County) and for those who lost their homes in the flooding and mudslides. When we hear how badly some were impacted, we recognize the hand of God in protecting Camp. Our lives will always be marked by pain, suffering, and death…but in it all, God is good. We will do all we can to love and help our neighbors and inform you of worthy groups to support. Manna Food Bank is one such group. We have donated to this fine organization for many years and have volunteered in their Hendersonville warehouse. They do good work and are exceptional in every way.

This week, our focus will be checking on our friends, neighbors, and year-round employees and slowly starting the clean-up process. Power and internet will likely be out at camp for a while, but we will respond to messages and emails as soon as we can. For now, email is going to be the best way to contact us if you have a question. We appreciate your patience with response time as most of our team is still without power.

Thanks again for your prayers and support. We deeply appreciate your friendship and love of camp.