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Hurricane Helene
60,000
people reached
across Georgia and North Carolina
230,000
resources distributed
including water, hygiene kits, tarps, baby supplies, and ready-to-eat meals
25
mobile homes rebuilt
in Alan Campos (Buncombe County) with elevated foundations to mitigate future flood damage
You can help communities in western North Carolina recover.
Nearly a year after Hurricane Helene made landfall, CORE remains committed to ensuring that impacted families have access to safe and stable housing, especially during another intense hurricane season. In April 2025, we formally established the Home Rebuild Program in western North Carolina. This long-term initiative seeks to address essential infrastructure repairs for homes, safeguarding families from displacement after disaster, and providing them with the stability needed to thrive. We continue to employ local staff and contractors to stimulate the local economy and foster sustainable recovery and growth.
Your support today can help us reach our year-long goal of bringing 50 more families back home across Buncombe, Transylvania, and Henderson counties. In times of crisis, your donation can make a life-long impact, every single day to communities in need.
“*Note: At the close of the response, recurring contributions for Hurricane Helene will continue to create incredible impact and be reallocated to CORE’s Emergency Response Fund. You can cancel at any time.”
Emergency Response | 2024
What damage did Hurricane Helene cause?
Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region as a massive Category 4 hurricane — the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Big Bend on record. Several states suffered catastrophic and life-threatening flash and urban flooding, landslides, extended power outages, damaging wind and heavy rains. Over 200 fatalities were confirmed across six states. Given a 500-mile path of destruction from Florida through North Carolina and estimated damages well over $100 billion, CORE joined forces with local partners on the ground and the National Guard to reach as many people as possible with humanitarian support.
With CORE’s history of extensive programming and emergency responses following hurricanes Idalia and Ian, our teams quickly mobilized in Georgia and expanded efforts into North Carolina, where we’ve actively served the community since 2018 in response to Hurricane Florence.
How is CORE supporting the long-term recovery of those impacted by Hurricane Helene?
Upon expanding into Buncombe County, NC in December 2024, CORE identified several mobile home communities, including Alan Campos in Swannanoa, that sustained particularly severe damage from the unprecedented storm. Home to many low-income immigrant families, the Alan Campos community faced additional challenges accessing resources to aid the difficult rebuilding process. True to our ethos, we hired local staff to lead our efforts; their deep ties to the community have been instrumental in the completion of this long-term initiative.
Powered by our team, generous partners, and more than 100 volunteers, CORE completed the rehabilitation of 25 homes in Alan Campos by March 2025. This included clearing out and gutting flooded homes, mitigating mold and flood water contamination, and installing subfloors, insulation, and drywall – all to ensure families could safely return home, as quickly as possible. We also elevated many of these homes and HVAC units to reduce the risk of future flooding, giving families greater peace of mind when they face disasters. This work helps to break the cycle for vulnerable families who are repeatedly exposed to climate disasters, but often lack the means or resources to address the impact.
Hear from the resilient community members of Alan Campos about their rebuilding journeys.
“And thank you to CORE who has been there from the start. I’m so thankful for them, because they find ways to help us get back home soon.” – Maria, Alan Campos resident
Looking back:
CORE’s emergency response to Hurricane Helene in Georgia and North Carolina
Leveraging our local and technical expertise in rapid response, resource distribution, tarping, and wellness support, CORE addressed urgent needs across both states, keeping a close pulse on the needs of mobile home communities, the elderly, and rural and low-income areas first and foremost.
Within a week of the storm making landfall, we set up points of distribution for safe access to vital supplies in Lowndes County, GA and Hendersonville, NC. In partnership with local emergency management agencies, community-based organizations, and the National Guard, our teams reached more than 60,000 people and distributed nearly 230,000 critical resources including hygiene kits, tarps, drinking water, ready to eat meal kits and other essential relief items. In western North Carolina, we also hosted weekly community meetings to ensure marginalized community members could access local, state, and federal recovery resources.
In Valdosta, Georgia, CORE tarped severely damaged mobile homes and conducted wellness checks to support community members, many of whom are elderly, low income and without insurance, and managing chronic illnesses. Some had been dealing with residual mold and interior damage from the three back-to-back storms that previously impacted the region.
In the News.
Spectrum News
In North Carolina, CORE is rebuilding a mobile home community after Hurricane Helene
The Margin
Six months after the hurricane that changed Appalachia
Asheville Citizen Times
Helene hit thousands of WNC mobile homes, hurting some of the most vulnerable populations
