“This hit our backyard, this hit people that we work with, people that we know, and it has really opened the eyes of the community to what Samaritan’s Purse is able to do in these communities and just show them that God loves them,” Harrison said.
But when it comes to home repairs, many have turned to Baptists on Mission. To date, the organization has completed repairs on 203 homes damaged by the hurricane. It’s working on an additional 230 and has 500 more homes on a waiting list.
In Helene’s aftermath, it perfected its rapid repair method, which aims to make a home livable quickly, even if cabinets have yet to be installed or the trim around the doors isn’t complete. The idea is to get people back into homes and then return later to complete the finishing touches.
Baptists on Mission has six rebuild centers in Western North Carolina, where its thousands of volunteers can sleep for a week or a weekend while they work on homes. The organization feeds them three meals a day and provides the tools and materials to work on homes.
Many volunteers are skilled at construction trades; others work alongside a team leader who guides them. The volunteers, young and old, come from Baptist churches, not only in North Carolina but across the country.
“People ask me all the time, why am I a Southern Baptist?” said Stan Jenkins, a pastor from Henderson, North Carolina, about 260 miles away, who brought half a dozen church members to volunteer in Burnsville last month. “Here’s the reason I always give: I don’t know any other denomination that does mission work like we do. I mean, we take mission work seriously.”
Baptists on Mission has proved itself during past disasters. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it rebuilt 720 homes in Gulfport, Mississippi.
After hurricanes Matthew in 2016 and Florence in 2018, the North Carolina legislature took notice of their work. In 2023, the North Carolina General Assembly awarded it $5 million for future disasters in the state. This January, the governor announced he was giving the group another $3 million for Hurricane Helene assistance.
And last month, North Carolina’s leaders approved an additional $524 million for Helene recovery. Baptists on Mission might get a small slice of that, too.
The organization is mainly funded by Baptist churches across the state. This year’s budget from church donations is $1.6 million. Government funding pays for construction materials that will help put people back in homes faster.
“We didn’t use any state funds or federal funds to set up and manage our rebuild centers or to pay to coordinate our leadership,” said Richard Brunson, its executive director. “We’re just using federal funds and state funds for building materials.”
To avoid endangering volunteers, Baptists on Mission typically doesn’t repair roofs. Homeowners who receive money from FEMA must use those funds before Baptists on Mission will help. Typically, money from FEMA is not enough to cover all the necessary repairs, Ashe said. The type of fixes Baptists on Mission undertakes are typically no more than $40,000.
