In mid September 2018, Hurricane Florence’s 90+ mph winds made landfall on the coast of North Carolina. Florence is considered the wettest tropical system ever to hit North Carolina. Some parts of the state received nearly three feet of rain, and many houses and mobile homes remained completely underwater for several weeks. 
Hoping to assist families impacted by Florence, CCNS volunteers focused on Duplin County, which was among the hardest hit areas. We connected with local aid organizations, churches, and the Word of Faith Distribution Center to get in touch with people in need in the communities of Wallace, Rose Hill, Magnolia, Warsaw, Buelaville, Pink Hill, and Greenevers.
We split up into teams each day and focused on four areas of outreach: repairing roofs, distributing furniture and household goods, volunteering at the Word of Faith Distribution Center, and making meals for AmeriCorps Volunteers.
Our time in North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence provided incredibly dynamic circumstances for working together in our efforts to aid families in need. Our hearts were touched by the people who allowed us into their lives.
Words of Faith
We were fortunate to spend time helping at the Word of Faith Distribution Center. Founded by Bud and Patsy Quinn thirty years ago, the Center has grown into a complex of large warehouses. Patsy, Bud, their grandson John Paul, and a core group of volunteers felt like a real family, and it was a pleasure to pitch in and work with the distribution center team.
The years of hard work already invested in the Distribution Center really paid off when the hurricane hit. Everything was in place for them to provide food, clothing, household items, and even furniture and some appliances to the local community, some of whom had lost all of their belongings. The Center received donations from all over the country, including several dozen pallets of clothing and 20,000 pounds of potatoes every two weeks. We helped sort through household items and repack them into boxes for delivery. It was quite a heart opening experience for me to hear volunteers’ life stories, and to experience putting myself aside in a way that made for no separation.
There were rows and rows of donated food in the warehouses and we formed an assembly line of about ten people to box the items. We packed hundreds of boxes of food for pick ups and deliveries. 
Each day Patsy was in the kitchen making lunch for the crew. On the days I assisted her, it felt like being back in my grandmother’s kitchen as a young girl, listening to Patsy’s deep southern accent and helping her make a raw broccoli salad recipe that I had known from childhood. We all came together at lunch time and formed a circle to pray. Words of faith said in prayer with the Word of Faith family. –Seeah
Roofing and Deliveries 
After seeing so many damaged roofs, we got some tarps and roof repair materials and went to work. One day a crew of five spent a day on Margarita’s roof. Margarita, her daughter, son in law, and three children lived in a mobile home with a damaged / leaking roof, and they had lost many belongings in the flooding. Our crew on the roof covered hundreds of screws with tar, then were able to deliver a bed and dresser the next day as well. Margarita and her daughter Jocelyn stood with lit up faces as the children shyly smiled big smiles. 
In a rented a U-Haul truck, we delivered mattress sets and dressers to different houses. It felt like being Santa Claus (with Christmas only a few weeks away), when people would open their doors and see our all-ladies crew delivering furniture!
One rainy day several volunteers visited a man, Brian, and his family. His wife was eight months pregnant and they had a five-year-old boy. We walked into their trailer and saw that the roof over the kitchen was sunk down about six inches. Brian was very concerned that the roof might fall in on his family while he was at work. He had been denied assistance by FEMA three times. Clearly, we had ended up in the right place at a critical time.
Conway climbed up on the hand-railing to look on the roof and sure enough, discovered a sizable pond of water! Koda and Chuck worked inside with Brian on lifting the sinking roof. Our team outside was able to clear the water and secure a tarp before the coming storm, while others delivered beds to the family as well. As we were leaving, Brian gave us a beautiful, deeply heartfelt thank you. We were all touched by his humility and gratitude. He told us that we made his Christmas, and that his family was now safe and ready to welcome their new baby.
Cooking for Volunteers
AmeriCorps is a volunteer program supported by the U.S. govt., foundations, corporations, and various donors, “helping others and meeting critical needs in the community.” We met several dozen young adult AmeriCorps volunteers staying in a local facility who had the very gritty job entitled “muck and gut,” which basically meant going in houses that had been underwater for some time and taking everything out, even the sheet rock in the walls.
They worked really hard so of course had a big appetite for the tasty, nutritious home cooked meals we were able to provide for them on multiple occasions. We had a great time doing this and they were excited to see [and eat!] the large Shepherd’s Pies, Minestrone Soup, salad, and cookies. It felt nourishing to us to provide good food to give them strength for their next day of hard work.
One evening we made a spaghetti dinner at the local college for a meeting of flood victims and volunteers organized by Darlene of the Community Development Corporation. We carried plates of spaghetti into the meeting hall, served one to each person, and then joined with our own plates. The scene was natural and relaxed yet felt somehow “out of this world,” 
having this meal together and learning about people’s lives.
At the end of the dinner, we held hands in a circle and sang Reach Out and Touch Somebody’s Hand. There was the palpable feeling of a community coming together to help give each other hope. We returned home grateful to have had so many rich moments of teamwork, and to have learned the meaning of “Southern Hospitality.”