By Hannah Nightingale – The Postmillennial
Chimney Rock Village, which lies in Western North Carolina and was ravaged by Hurricane Helene over six months ago, has seen rebuilding efforts progress with the help of the Amish community.
Mayor Peter O’Leary told WCNC about the rebuilding efforts, “When we look around, we still see tremendous damage and realize it will take a long time to build back. But at the same time, we have made tremendous progress, and that is very encouraging.”
Amos Stoltzfus, a Pennsylvania Amish volunteer with Great Needs Trust, told the outlet, “We come out here every morning, working mostly in Chimney Rock and in Bat Cave,” later adding, “We have been cleaning the campground, also insulating a new building and organizing donated products, paper supplies and dry walling.”
Amanda Zook, a fellow volunteer with the group said, “We wanted to help the people with the disaster. Our hearts just felt drawn to come help the people in this area.” She added, “It’s just inspiring to me to see how people can pull together, work together and get something done.”
In all, over 2,000 volunteers from around the country have dedicated their skills and time to rebuilding efforts in Chimney Rock Village.
“This is a multiyear process. It is a huge job that is going to take a lot of input, a lot of resources, a lot of efforts by a lot of people. All of the building material going into these stores has been donated up to this point, and it has just been a tremendous recovery story that is ongoing,” O’Leary said.
The Trump administration has pledged to rebuild infrastructure in areas left devastated by the storm, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy saying in February that they would be built at “lightning” speed.