Brooker Memorial always encourages its employees to give of their time to community service. Jaye Giampaolo, who does maintenance work at Brooker, spent a vacation week in February working to assist victims of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.
The storm came through in September 2024 but communities in the western part of the state continue to recover. The mountains were hit hardest, with severe flooding and landslides, leaving many communities in ruin, according to the state’s Department of Insurance.
Jaye traveled with a group of 20 volunteers from his church, Praise Christian in Barkhamsted, and they worked together with organizers from the Swannanoa First Baptist Church in the town of Swannanoa, NC. As a Southern Baptist Church, Swannanoa has a large network of disaster relief teams with decades of experience that are coming to the area to assist homeowners with the ultimate goal of getting them back into their homes. The North Carolina Baptist Agency is called Baptists on Mission. More info about the church’s relief efforts is available here.
The river running through the town rose 27 feet and ripped buildings off their foundations.
“On all of the businesses on Main Street, the river took out the back sections of the buildings,” Jaye said. “No one had flood insurance.”
The house they worked at had 22 inches of mud on the floor. The house was gutted and wired again for electricity, he explained.
The amount of devastation he witnessed really impacted him.
“This storm was in September. It is a shame,” Jaye said. “You feel so helpless when you go. The people are so grateful for the help.”
He was pleased by the organization provided by the churches in the area. Jaye said the support was critical because they offered food and a place to stay for the volunteers.
