Helping Hands for North Carolina

Goal:

 USD $5,000

Raised:

 USD $1,895

Campaign created by Ryan Cornelsen

Campaign funds will be received by Ryan Cornelsen

Helping Hands for North Carolina

You have all seen the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in the Appalachian region of Western North Carolina. Communities are still recovering and many homes remain uninhabitable, if they stand at all. As the outpouring of requests for help continued, Ryan felt moved to be of service by bringing skilled labor in construction, woodworking, and home repair to those in need of shelter as we move into the winter months and help the effort to begin the long process of rebuilding. After many prayers and research, he has decided to follow God's prompting to help the people affected in the Asheville and Swannanoa area, bringing tools and equipment to assist with distribution, aid deliveries for disconnected communities, repairing homes to provide shelter and warmth, and anything else that is needed in the area.

Our goal is to raise $5,000 for building supplies and expenses. If you would like to donate to the cause, it would be greatly appreciated and know that every dollar will be spent helping those in great need.

Ryan will be leaving on Nov 7 for a 30-hour drive to Asheville and will stay on-site for 2 weeks. During that time, he will be living out of his truck and remaining mobile to respond to any needs in the area where his skills and talents can be used. We are asking for prayers for his safety and guidance for where he is needed most.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

Recent Donations
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Tom Steffens
$ 25.00 USD
2 months ago

Skyler and Sarah
$ 50.00 USD
2 months ago

Mom and Dad
$ 125.00 USD
3 months ago

Keep up the good work. We love you!

Mugunthan
$ 200.00 USD
3 months ago

Adey Jamieson
$ 50.00 USD
3 months ago

Tom Steffens
$ 25.00 USD
3 months ago

Marsh Valley Bible Church
$ 1000.00 USD
3 months ago

Bernie & Barbara
$ 100.00 USD
3 months ago

Mark Stephanie davis
$ 20.00 USD
3 months ago

May God keep you safe and thank you for your wonderful heart for others

Skyler and Sarah Taylor
$ 50.00 USD
3 months ago

Jean Bennett
$ 100.00 USD
3 months ago

Thomas Steffens
$ 25.00 USD
3 months ago

Mom and Dad
$ 100.00 USD
3 months ago

You are providing a great service!! We love you!

Wendy Bender
$ 25.00 USD
3 months ago

Updates

Update #11 - Closing the Chapter and Coming Home

December 1st, 2024

This past week has been a blessing. I prayed for more time to keep working and that’s what was given. My personal goal was to have the building dried in, meaning that the roof & walls are completely framed and covered with OSB sheathing. It didn’t need to have siding or the metal roof installed to meet my goal, just dry enough to be able to start using while the rest of the work continued. We were blessed with several volunteers that had significant construction experience and we were able to make fantastic progress. All this experience did bring a different challenge in that they all were keenly aware of how a proper permanent structure should be built and all the small details that should be completed. They were unaware of the trade-offs which had been made in order to meet the criteria for the project and I spent a fair bit of time bringing them up to speed and discussing their ideas. I ultimately incorporated some of them and declined others. This was an improvement to the building quality and safety, but came at the price of 1.5 days of extra work, even with a large crew of up to 8 skilled volunteers working on it. Material deliveries continued to lag behind what we’d like but we were able to make good use of the donated materials by ripping down boards to what we needed and fabricating doubled-up headers & rafters from shorter pieces. This kept us moving forward but did slow us down compared to what we could have completed if we had all the materials we needed. That’s simply the nature of volunteer work in a disaster zone working with donated time, materials, and funds. I’m very happy with what we accomplished and while, ultimately, we didn’t reach my milestone, the project is at least in a significantly better place to be able to hand off to someone else and let them finish it. We have 3 walls framed, the roof framed, we got a couple rows of OSB installed on the roof, the subfloor is complete, the deck is complete, electrical is run to the building and ready to be brought inside. With 2 more days we could have finished framing the front wall, installed the 2 entry doors, and completed sheathing the roof & walls. But I’m out of time and the other skilled volunteers have also gone back home. I pray for God to send more help to finish what has been started and I pray for an a path that lets me return as well.

We weren’t able to work on Thursday due to rain, high winds, and something called Thanksgiving. I used that morning to pack up my gear and tent, then moved into a larger tent that was setup for volunteers. I slept there the last 2 nights which was nice because the nights became very cold. Temps down into the 20’s with the windchill going into the teens. The larger tent has a kerosene heater inside and kept it warm. I also had an amazing opportunity to spend dinner with my son and his girlfriend at her parent’s house. I was surprised, humbled, and honored to be invited. Dinner was in Elizabethton, TN so I drove a different route this time that, unbeknownst to me, took me through western Newland, NC. This area, like Chimney Rock, Bat Cave, Erwin, and others, was hit incredibly hard during the floods. I was unprepared for what I would see. The small towns I drove through were nearly wiped clean from the Earth. Like stories in the Bible of total destruction, these places had few, if any, intact buildings. The one that pushed me over the edge into tears was the sight of a roof from a home lying on a steep hillside. Broken in half, spread across 200ft of once-pristine grassy hills lay the ruins of one family’s home. I don’t know how far it traveled, I didn’t see a matching house. Perhaps there wasn’t one standing any longer. Many homes on the far side of the river were inaccessible by normal roads. I could see where heavy machinery had created new rocky “dams” across the river. Deep enough to not impede flow, but shallow enough for a 4x4 vehicle to drive across and regain access to the homes whose bridges had washed away.

I am constantly amazed by the resilience of the people here. It is part of the reason I feel so heartbroken seeing the trials and suffering that is happening there. The community spirit, demonstrations of faith, and service to their fellow man that these tragedies have brought to fruition, though…it is impossible to see this and not be convinced that God is working the hearts of these people to bring them closer, not only to each other but also strengthening their faith. So many stories I’ve heard of people witnessing miracles after praying for help. You can feel the conviction in their words and it stirs your heart to see them persevering through some of the worst imaginable trials and heartache. I am heartbroken to be leaving. Already I find myself calling this place “home” and thinking of it as such. Despite the fact that my “home” was nothing more than a 10x10 dome tent not designed to be heated, a sleeping bag, and a single camp chair. I find the shelter of the back seat of my truck to be almost luxury tonight as I travel home. My heart is torn between the home I have and the home I want to be a part of. Part of me will never come back from Swannanoa, it belongs to them now, forever. God willing, I will be reunited with it and once again be whole someday. This time, with the other part of my heart that I had to leave behind for this trip. Being without my wife was incredibly difficult to go through this, but I don’t know if her tender heart could have born the things I saw. She cares so deeply about those around her and always treats them like family. It is easily one of her best qualities, but I’ve witnessed the toll it takes to care that way and it is not a small price. That’s how I know the magnitude of the pain the residents of these areas are feeling right now. It’s why I want to help them in any way that I can. It’s why I feel pulled back to keep working for them to help rebuild what was lost. I would make this my life’s mission, if I am given the opportunity. I pray to know what path God wants me to follow and I pray that it leads me back here.

For now, I’ve exhausted my PTO and must return home. I left early this morning and reached Marion, IL tonight. I’m catching some sleep and will continue home tomorrow. I’m excited to return home, I’ve missed all very much. I just feel incomplete and disappointed to leave when there is so much work still needed. I know I can’t do all of it, but at least I want to know that I’m doing my small part to keep moving things forward. For now, this is the end. Looking forward to Chapter 2.

Update Update #11 - Closing the Chapter and Coming Home Image
Update #10 - Building for the Future

November 24th, 2024

Since my last update, I have been very busy. The Savage Freedoms group needs to move out of their current location at the Harley Davidson dealership because they need to reopen. A new site was found down the road at Appalachian Tool & Machine. I went over there with several people to look at the new site — it’s where I met Earl. The owners there have been so incredibly kind and accommodating. Letting us move into their unused yard and basically do whatever we wanted to set it up the way we would like for our needs. We’ve set aside a place for RV camping, a big turn-around for trailers, heavy equipment parking, chow hall, temporary housing for volunteers, and a semi-permanent command center (TOC). With my experience, they asked me to design and build the new TOC. Several challenges were immediately present: 

1. The site was rolling hills and would need to be graded, even at the flattest spots.

2. We couldn’t make a permanent structure, so there would be no concrete footings buried in the ground.

3. It needed to be large enough to house the daily operations with room for up to 50 at a time.

4. It needed to be ready in a week so there was no time to wait on materials, it had to be sourced from off-the-shelf items readily available at the local stores.

I set to work immediately designing something that would be free-standing, yet strong enough to withstand the winds and weather here for at least 1 year. When you reach 1 year of safe usability on a structure, the design naturally leans heavily toward the “permanent” side of “semi-permanent” for things like strength, durability, and safety. The short timeframe meant that common solutions to increase strength (engineered beams & trusses) were not an option. Safety was my main concern. I cannot imagine the feeling I’d have if someone got hurt because the building was poorly designed. There are span charts and load tables to follow in order to determine the safe design criteria for different materials and I referenced those heavily during the design to pick things that would meet the needs. I did a lot of praying for guidance because without an engineer to review the calculations, there is risk involved. This group is not averse to risk, nor unfamiliar with it. These are calculated risks based on probability, past experience, and best effort to find critical data about load capacity. I settled on a design that is a hybrid between a deck and a pole barn. Essentially the walls and roof would be designed like a pole barn while the floor would be a free-standing deck. 

After double checking the design, I made a materials list and we went to Lowe’s. It took most of a day to get the materials picked up and we started work last Sunday. While the site was being graded, we began prefabrication of floor assemblies that we could then lift into place with a crane. This meant that the poles needed to be free-standing in position, hangers installed and ready. Accurate layout was going to be critical, and we were essentially building Lego blocks on a design that was drawn on a yellow notepad. Many prayers were said that things would work smoothly and not create additional work from needing to fix mistakes because we didn’t have time. 

Monday came with a load of gravel for the new site and I had one crew leveling/compacting that while another crew continued to build floor sections. I laid out the building perimeter with batter boards and string lines, squared it and oriented it to fit on the pad. I always forget how long it takes to position and square a building. By the end of the day we had the first of four floor sections installed on the beams and all of the rest were built and ready for installation. I stayed up late that night designing the rest of the building. So far I only had the floor framing on paper and the rest was a functional concept in my head. I drew out the wall framing and roof framing. I drew in the access points, windows, and doors. Then I made a shopping list. We had a contact with Lowe’s that was going to donate the materials we need to finish it, so we needed a complete list by the end of the day. I worked as hard as I could to think through all of the design criteria, how it would be built, research what materials were available and see if there was a cheaper option. The budget was already half spent with just the floor and deck, so I was nervous about that. 

Tuesday brought rain, but we continued with the build by lifting the rest of the pre-built floor sections into place. By this time I knew we were not going to be completed with the building by the time I was supposed to leave on Friday. I submitted a PTO request for every last hour I have (plus a couple extra, putting me into the negative). We started work on framing the rest of the floor in-place. We also had a little going away party for our National Guard captain that had been embedded with us for most of this journey. Steven Cochran was a great guy, I miss him here. I think he’s coming back as a civilian, but I’ll be gone by then. 

Wednesday started with fog hanging over the Smokey Mountains and more rain. The wind started picking up as well, especially in the evening. We completed work on framing the floor but things took a downward turn at the end of the day. The winds were gusting 45mph and it ended up flipping over several of the tents we had put up at the new site. The old site had several tents collapse as well. We were on emergency response to secure these structures and then I drove around the town with one of the other volunteers to look for anyone living in a tent that might need help securing it and tying it down.

Thursday opened with beautiful skies but the wind continued and I hadn’t received word back on my PTO approval so I needed to find someone that I could bring up to speed in case I had to leave the next day. Prayers were said to be able to stay and finish the work. The Amish brought us lunch and it reminded me of childhood. My grandma made a lot of meals based on Amish or Mennonite recipes. We started insulating and installing the subfloor. There were some folks from Tennessee that came down to build tiny homes and they gave us a hand. By the afternoon I had received my PTO approval. The weather forecast called for snow, sub-freezing temperatures, and gust up to 50mph that night. My tent has been holding out well, but this would be a real test. About 11:45 my tent wall was bowing in considerably and I was concerned. I threw on my jacket and walked across the field to the far side of the parking lot to get my truck and trailer. I parked it as close to my tent as possible to create a wind block and that helped considerably. We already knew the weather for the day was going to be too cold, wet, and windy to safely work so we were going to lose a work day. 

Friday I woke up to snow covering my tent. The winds continued and increased to 60mph gusts. One of our crew had been injured the day before in an accident where he rolled in his skid-steer down a mountain. I have a lot of recovery gear and I went with a crew to see about recovering the equipment. Luckily, Tom only had a concussion and a few other minor complications. I knew he’d been lucky but when I got to the site to evaluate, I saw just HOW lucky. The slope he rolled down was 45-degrees. He rolled 3 times, hit a tree, changed directions, and rolled into a ravine. The skid-steer was on its side and 150ft down the mountain. We didn’t know how we were going to recover it, but we came up with a plan and started getting equipment staged. We ended up getting delayed while seeking permission from the property owner whose lot we would need to use for access and the recovery was put off a day. An elderly woman came to drop off donations in her vintage Checker Cab. That was cool to see. I helped move donations in the warehouse that Appalachian Tool has in order to load them up and move them to another location. The wind was causing havoc again and we lost our new chow hall tent.

Saturday a crew went to recover the skid-steer and I went back to the site to continue work on the new TOC. We were able to finish the insulation and subfloor. This whole week since I started work on this new site has been filled with accidents. This site will be the long-term home for Savage Freedoms to continue doing work here in the Swannanoa valley. This will enable them to continue giving a hand up to those who were affected by the storm. The adversary doesn’t want this and has been trying all manner of things to slow us down and make things hard to discourage us. I’ve busted my lip open, bruised my hands and sprained my wrist, I’ve been tripped by power cords and skinned my knees, banged my head on things countless times, we’ve had trouble finding skilled volunteers to help, delays in getting materials. I am determined to continue for as long as I have. I will do everything I can to complete this before I leave. Prayers for safety and protection from the physical and spiritual attacks would be greatly appreciated. 

Update Update #10 - Building for the Future Image
Update #9 - Rebuilding and Relocating

November 17th, 2024

The last few days have been a whirlwind of activity. On Thursday we had a huge donation of tools and cleaning supplies donated from Grainger through their ToolBank non-profit. They donated hundreds of buckets each filled with hammers, wrenches, disinfectants, cleaning supplies, towels, etc. that can be handed out to people who need them. I drove the trailer up to Camp Harmony at Liberty Hill Baptist Church which is a distribution site being run by Third Wave Volunteers. We unloaded the buckets for them and then came back to camp. It was raining most of the day, so it was a good day to finish designing the stairs for the elderly couple in Bat Cave. I put together a materials list and sent it off for approval. 

Friday was a difficult day for me. The operations here at the Harley Davidson shop where Savage Freedoms Relief Operations has been operating is moving because the Harley shop needs to reopen. I went with some of the other members here to look at the new location, which will be just up the road. We scouted the property to determine how to lay it out, what work needs to be done, and start making preparations. While tracing the water drainage from uphill that would impact the property, I met Earl who, along with his wife, is running a distribution site at Swannanoa Valley Independent Missionary Baptist Church. I spoke to him about water runoff, drainage ditches, and culverts, then I asked him how his site was doing and if there was anything they needed. We spoke for a long time as he told me about how God had prepared him to be there at the right time to help those people in need. He has been building his home for several years now, and has suffered several setbacks, including a battle over a year long to get his neighbor’s sewage drain fixed so that it wouldn’t drain onto his property. The problem got so bad that he had to move into a camper and was living down at the church. He was just about to go back after things were cleaned up and start work on his house again when all the flooding happened. He has been there every day since. At first he was just rationing out the water and supplies that they had for themselves. This man and his wife, who is as sweet and giving as any you could imagine, were giving away their own food and water to those who had nothing. Eventually the word got out and they started to receive donations of supplies and they’ve been giving those out to anyone who needs them. As Earl said, God can always give more than you can give, so Earl has no concern about having enough to share with the community. He said the only thing they don’t have is a generator and there were a couple of folks who needed one. I took his information and passed it along to get them vetted and see if we can help them out with the right supplies. 

It is easy to be in Earl’s position and be frustrated about the hardship at his home and be angry about enduring these things without knowing why. If they hadn’t happened, Earl wouldn’t have bought a camper, they wouldn’t have moved away from home, and they wouldn’t have been in a position to help those around them. God prepared them to be right where they needed to be in order to help their community. After finishing at the new location, we got word from a local man about some plumbing pipe that had washed away from a store down on the Swannanoa River. Insurance had already completed their evaluation and written off the materials. Cleanup crews were coming by on Monday to remove and dispose of the debris, but most of it was still bundled and in perfectly good condition. I was sent down to scout the location and see if we could recover it. We had permission from the police and it is material that would be perfect for the homes we are trying to build going forward. It took me a while to find passable routes to access the location. It was on Swannanoa River Rd. which was directly in the path of the flood. Water raged through that area and absolutely gutted buildings, flipped 5-ton trucks like they were toys, uprooted massive trees, and left a wake of destruction with debris 20+ feet up in some trees. It looks like a war zone down there. I walked down the closed road which is still covered in inches of mud, sand, and muck past antique shops, furniture stores, gyms, and art studios. The contrast between the awesome destruction what lies untouched just 100 yards away is hard to capture in words. The terror and utter helplessness these people must have felt is unimaginable. Seeing all that up close and walking through the shattered lives of these people and the remnants of landmarks that have stood for decades, been in their families for 50+ years in some cases…it broke me, and when I got back to my truck I just sat and cried.

This community will never be the same, the wounds are too deep and the scars will be here forever. But the people are a different story. Seeing this after talking with Earl and all the people like him and his wife. People who witnessed this first hand, then immediately got to work helping their neighbors, giving away what little they had left to people who had even less. This is the purest expression of God’s selfless love that I can imagine. The people here will thrive again, not because they’re getting handouts from the government (which the vast majority are not), or because insurance will replace their homes (because almost all of their claims are being denied), but because these people love their neighbors and are willing to give everything they have to help those in need. Not just supplies, but time, talent, and most importantly their love. These are incredible people down here and they have a strength and determination about them that is inspiring. With that combination, there’s no way they won’t be able to recover from this. The end is nowhere in sight, but as long as they keep moving in this direction they’ll reach it eventually. 

Update Update #9 - Rebuilding and Relocating Image
Update #8 - Temporary Housing for Sam

November 14th, 2024

Samantha is in a situation where she has to move out of her current home, due to flood damage. She needs to move some of her furniture and other large items out so she can move into an RV temporarily and continue working. We found a shed for her but it needed some work to be able to store her belongings without damage. I worked with Kieran again to set the shed on cribbing blocks and built some stairs for access. We finished that job this morning and after I took care of some necessary vehicle maintenance, I drove out to Bat Cave to meet with a man named Larry.

He had been working with an elderly couple whose home sits on the banks of the Reedypatch Creek. Their entire front yard was taken away by the floods that raged through their creek. Their steps now end at a cliff and they have no access to their home other than on foot because the bridge they once had was washed away. There is an old logging road that’s overgrown, with a boulder in the way that Larry is trying to get renovated enough to provide access, and they need new, temporary stairs built to be able to get from their home from the new road. It will be a long stairway, about 75 feet, with at least one turn, and straddles a small stream. The elevation gain is roughly 40ft and the ground is filled with rocks. There are a number of challenges in front of this one, including getting access, getting the right equipment, getting the manpower, and getting it ready before I leave. I’m working on a design and will present the proposal to see if we can fund it. 

I really hope we can help them, there is so much destruction in that area, it was difficult to drive through without tearing up at the sight of it. I saw homes that were cut in half by a newly-formed waterfall pouring off the mountains, signs for businesses that were totally erased from the landscape, roofs laying in fields nowhere near where they came from, etc. I can only imagine the terror those people felt watching this water flood off the mountains. There is so much work ahead to repair and rebuild, it feels like an impossible task. The number of people I see down here helping and working every day to take one more step toward healing from this is inspiring and gives me so much hope. The people I’ve met are some of the most tenacious, determined, and courageous that I’ve ever come across. The 85yo couple I’m designing stairs for were walking across the creek to get to the road again when Larry found them last week. He told them he’d meet them there the next day with 5 guys to help, and they said “that’s okay”. He had to practically force them to take the help. They both went for a hike with us down the slopes of the stream we’re trying to build on, covered in moss, downed tree branches, and gravel. She was all determined to “go for a walk” down this potential road access. 😂 That woman is a firecracker.

Update #7 - Carolyn’s Porch

November 11th, 2024

Today I returned to finish the job I started yesterday, but this time I brought some much needed help in the form of a skid steer to dig down to solid dirt in order to install a new deck footing for the corner post that washed away and left the end completely unsupported. I bought a ladder so we could reach the supports that need to be repaired or replaced and two brothers from Massachusetts showed up today to pitch in. One was a carpenter and the other was an apprentice electrician, both were very eager to help and their assistance was greatly appreciated. The skid steer prepped the ground and brought in more rock and dirt to shore up the creek banks to improve safety and also provide some protection from high water in the future while the rest of us went to work adding new knee braces and finishing the work to replace the last 2 posts.

We hit a snag with the corner post because it turned out to be a full length from the ground up to the roof, over 20ft in length, which was longer than the materials we had on hand. As a result, we had to do some clever engineering and opted for a scarf joint to replace the damaged portion of the post. I made sure to reinforce it well and I have no concerns about it being strong enough. We finished up after cleaning our debris and making sure all materials were removed from her property. She was so appreciative of the help and said that the biggest benefit was simply knowing that she wasn’t in it alone. We can’t control what bad things happen in our lives or the lives of those around us, but we do get to decide how we respond to them. As my wife is fond of saying, with her enormous heart, sometimes you just need someone to sit in the mud with you and be present. I’ll add that other times it helps to bring some tools. 😂 I’m really happy that we were able to help make Carolyn’s home safer.

Update #6 - Day 1 (Carolyn)

November 11th, 2024

I checked in with Savage Freedom this morning and they had someone that had been waiting for help, an elderly woman named Carolyn. They’re already done some work to fill in the deep channels cut into her property by the floods, but now her porch was in need of repair. Several of the support posts were knocked out of place, some broken, and the porch was in danger of being ripped off the house. The porch is how she accesses her home, there’s no other way to get to the door because it sits above the garage. They drove me out to assess it, make a list of needed supplies, and then I was off to Home Depot to get started. I spent the day as a 1-man team, jacking up the porch one post at a time to repair, reposition, and reinforce each one. I completed as much as I could today, but I will be back tomorrow with a ladder and some help to make the ground suitable for a footing (it’s too lose of soil right now).

I got to speak with Carolyn quite a bit today. She’s retired and used to be a school nurse. She’s lived down here before, but spent some time in Montana. She had a German Shepherd that moved with her up to Montana and we shared stories about our furry family members. Despite her age, she’s been quite active in cleaning up her property, and was working with her daughter to clean the several inches of mud out of her garage/basement. After the clean out, she then helped her daughter spread several inches is gravel all over it. There must’ve been more than 1 ton of gravel they spread by hand. She’s got quite the determined spirit. 

After I finished at Carolyn’s house for the day, I ran to Home Depot for a ladder so I can keep working tomorrow. Then came back to camp for a quick dinner before church services. We had a good service and talked about several things. Among the topics, they showed a Bible they found in one of the houses they were cleaning out. It was swollen from the water, but still legible. It was bookmarked in Psalm 22, which is David opening with “my God, my God, why have thou forsaken me”. We talked about how we have to trust in God’s plan. One of the guys shared that he believes God will rebuild this area better. He’s from West Tennessee and came down to work on the fires at Pigeon Forge a few years ago. He talked about how you can’t even tell now. I said that I think even if this place doesn’t come back, that God is more interested in the people and you only need to look around to see how God is using this to grow the people, their faith, and giving them opportunities to grow spiritually as well as a community. Through trials we find out who we are.

After that, I was able to get my tent setup, so at least I’ve got my cot and I’m sleeping comfy tonight. 

Update Update #6 - Day 1 (Carolyn) Image
Update #5 - Arrival

November 10th, 2024

I’ve arrived in Swannanoa and touched base with one of the outfits here, but as expected given that it’s 9:30pm they are not doing any intake at the moment. I’m sleeping in my truck tonight, at the Ingles parking lot. I’ll check in with them in the morning and get an idea of where they need help. For now, rest. It’s been a long 3 days of travel. 

Update #4 - The final stretch

November 9th, 2024

Yesterday was a long day on the road. 17 hours driving + a time zone change. Made it just across the Kentucky border into Paducah. First hot shower of the trip, I doubled down on that and it felt sooo good. 😮‍💨 I’m going in the back way to Asheville, with a detour through Bryson City, so I’ve got about 8 more hours and 1 more time zone change. I’ve been chatting with Savage Freedom group about what they need help with and where I can fit in. There’s a couple of other groups that are looking for help as well, including a gentleman that closed up his business to help with home repairs, so we’ll see where I end up. I’ve got to make a donation delivery (or two), so it’s going to be another busy day. At least I’m rested and feeling good. Lots of prayers were said driving through St. Louis during rush hour with a trailer. 😂 Made it safe and sound, though, and we’re almost there. 

Update #3 - Recharged

November 8th, 2024

Made decent progress yesterday but not as much as I was hoping for. After a winter storm over the Denver area, plus a stop at Scheels & Buc-ee’s in Johnstown, CO, I made it to Sterling, CO before needing to take a rest. The late nights and early mornings this past week finally catching up to me. Got some good sleep in my truck after dealing with some of my good ol’ leg cramps in the middle of the night, now it’s 3am and I’m back on the road. Hoping to land somewhere near Knoxville for the night. That’s 1300 miles, 18-ish hours, and 2 time zone changes ahead of me, so we’ll see how far I make it. Missing home already. Pray for clear roads, and good sleep ahead (and fewer cramps! 😖). 

Update #2 - The Long Drive Ahead

November 7th, 2024

It’s 4:30am and I’ve already been up for 2 hours. My mind has been busy all night with final thoughts before I leave. Worries about what lies ahead and concerns for what I’m temporarily leaving behind. My faith is the reason I trust that things will be safe and protected in my absence. The truck is loaded with food, clothes, bedding, and vehicle maintenance necessities. We found a trailer and thanks to the generous owner at DB Rentals in Rigby, ID they gave me a heavily discounted rate for it. The trailer is now loaded up with all my tools and donations from a group in Lava Hot Springs. It’s a quiet morning and my thoughts are on the road ahead. Winter storms are blowing through New Mexico, Texas, and Colorado today. My plan is to keep north and hopefully miss the worst of it. Predictions for Denver are 6-8” of snow. I guess, worst case scenario, if I get stuck waiting out the weather and road closures, I’ve got just about anything I could possibly need to stay warm, fed, and safe. It’s amazing how much stuff I have packed for this trip. A trip of one. But I’m reminded that I’ve packed for any possible job I could be needed for (everything from carpentry, to cleanup, to off-road supply runs, to backcountry hikes for wellness checks), plus clothing, food, and bedding sufficient to be completely self-contained for up to a month. It gives me a whole new appreciation for the arctic expeditions of old — people like Shackleton who had to prepare for every situation because there was no help coming. If I do get stuck in the snow, I have plenty of gear for self-recovery or recovering others. We’ll see how far I make it today. My target is Lincoln, Nebraska.

Thank you again, to everyone for all the prayers and donations. It has been truly humbling to have so many show their faith in me and this mission. 

Update Update #2 - The Long Drive Ahead Image
Update #1 - Getting Loaded

November 5th, 2024

I have been working hard to pack up all of my tools that might be needed while I’m in North Carolina. It is a daunting task that took much longer than I expected and filled up much more space in my truck than I hoped. The back seat is completely filled to the roof with tools. The bed of the truck is equally full and I still need to pack clothing, bedding, and first aid. I am now looking for an enclosed trailer to be able to take some additional donations. There is a group in Lava Hot Springs with a sister city in Hot Springs, NC that has collected a lot of donations. They’ve asked me to take anything I can, so I’m trying to find an enclosed trailer that I can tow down with me. I have a few calls out, but if anyone can help with that, it would be greatly appreciated and allow me to bring much needed supplies with me.

I told my dear wife today that half of me is eager and itching to get on the road and the other half of me is panicking because I don’t feel like I’m prepared enough. This is in God’s hands and I need to trust the timing. There are so many unknowns right now (where I’ll be working, who I’ll be working with, where I’ll be sleeping in transit and once I reach Asheville/Swannanoa, etc.) but with prayer and the support of those around me, it’ll work out however it’s supposed to.

Thank you everyone for the prayers and donations. They are such a big help. I could never do this alone. 3 days…

Update Update #1 - Getting Loaded Image

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