Shawn Hendrix / GiveSendGo
CV NEWS FEED // As winter weather intensifies, a team of six is continuing “Operation Shelter” to bring safety and warmth to vulnerable persons and families in western North Carolina who are in need after the devastating September flooding following Hurricane Helene.
Shawn Hendrix, who is among those spearheading the operation, told CatholicVote in a Dec. 5 phone interview that the initiative has been able to serve those who are in places especially difficult to reach, such as in the mountains.
At the time of publication, Operation Shelter has raised $242,695 and about 20 RVs. Hendrix said the organization prioritizes providing the vehicles to people who are at especially high risk or vulnerability, such as families and those who were poor before the flooding.
Hendrix, who is Christian, praised God for providing. He explained that Operation Shelter was recently able to provide an RV to a family of six who was facing homelessness. The husband had lost his job, and the wife is going to deliver a new baby in two months.
With the help of donors, Hendrix said, Operation Shelter not only provided an RV to the family, but also paid for six months of stay at an RV park. He explained that Operation Shelter is striving to get people back on their feet holistically. For example, he is helping the husband make connections with a local company for a job. They are also helping those in need connect with local churches.
Ways to help
Hendrix explained that Operation Shelter has two intake forms: one for those offering to help and donate RVs and one for those requesting help. Operation Shelter’s vetting process for applicants includes meeting the people in person and making a few phone calls. They check the forms daily and when a crisis situation is submitted, Operation Shelter works quickly.
One woman was living in a garage in Black Mountain with her 2-year-old child. Within about 18 hours of receiving her form, Operation Shelter had delivered an RV to her, Hendrix said.
“That’s basically what we do. RVs come in, we find [a] need, and we handle all the logistics, the setup, the electric, whatever they need to get out of the cold,” Hendrix said.
Along with providing people with RVs, Hendrix stressed that effective stewardship has been crucial. Funds are put toward paying for RV spots and helping people stay in hotels while they wait for checks from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), for example.
Hendrix posted on X Dec. 10 that Operation Shelter can pay for the foundational layer of concrete needed for a double-wide home that was recently donated to an elderly couple whose home was destroyed in the flooding.
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When asked what is needed from donors, Hendrix said funds are certainly appreciated, and RVs remain the primary item of need.
Initially after the flooding, Hendrix said the main focus was on providing people with heated tents because it was affordable. Early on, he explained, the Division of Social Services (DSS) was concerned about tents, as they aren’t considered safe shelter. Hendrix said DSS never clearly indicated whether it would separate children from their parents if the family lived in a tent, so families were too afraid to live in the tents.
Operation Shelter has since been able to work its way up to providing RVs, which qualify as safe shelter.
On social media, Hendrix has also commended EmergencyRV, a volunteer-run operation that, according to Blaze Media, has provided almost 60 RVs to victims of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.
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‘It’s like a nuke went off’: Affected NC areas described
The affected areas of North Carolina remain in need of extensive cleanup. Hendrix said the affected areas resemble “a warzone.”
“You see in a movie where they’re fighting in a warzone in a city and the buildings are crushed, and there’s cars flipped over the road, and there’s bricks and barrels and wood – that’s what it looks like,” he said. “There are trees, piles and piles of trees. There’s bridges that are still out.”
While the roads are clear from “white line to white line,” much wreckage remains beyond those points, he indicated.
A truck remains flipped upside down on its roof, he said, and gasoline storage tanks are in the Swannanoa River. If today were a person’s first time visiting, he or she wouldn’t think that cleanup has actually occurred, Hendrix said. Although there has been cleanup, it is such an expansive project that putting even a dent in it is challenging.
Part of the difficulty in speeding up the process is the lack of funds, Hendrix said.
He anticipates that even years from now, destroyed buildings will still be present because the majority of people did not have flood insurance. For example, to repair and restore a gas station that washed into the river would take “six to seven figures,” he estimated.
“With no insurance money, nobody’s gonna spend that money to clean it up and then rebuild because they don’t have that kind of money,” he said.
The level of damage the flooding caused reminds him of what he saw when he visited nuclear testing grounds in Nevada. The force of a test bent a bridge’s girders. The hurricane’s flooding pummeled western North Carolina in much the same way.
“It’s like a nuke went off,” Hendrix said. “And I’m not trying to be hyperbolic. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Christians praised for efforts in Western North Carolina
Hendrix also commended Christians’ efforts to support and serve those impacted by the flooding. He praised them for stepping up and being imitators of Christ to serve those in need.
“God’s people showed up in a huge way for the people of western North Carolina,” he said. “The people I met out there doing the most good, to a T, were believers and followers of Christ.”
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He recounted how he would meet people and then often find out that they were also Christian.
“I’m not saying [they’re the] only people who helped, but over and over and over again, I saw God’s people come out and give sacrificially,” Hendrix said.
Among those contributing was the Diocese of Charlotte, which had raised $3.8 million by mid-October to put toward relief efforts in the affected areas. Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte and the diocese’s schools, parishes, Knights of Columbus, and local clergy also worked tirelessly to provide both material and spiritual support to those affected after Hurricane Helene swept through the area. At the end of September, Catholic Charities USA announced a disaster relief donation campaign to support Hurricane Helene victims.
