Vista Issue 2--Year End 2025

SPOTLIGHT

Rebuilding Asheville, Rebuilding Community

By Steve Dunn

As Rev. Rowles in Pearlington, MS, taught me on my first day of my first mission trip following Hurricane Katrina, ” these trips are a great opportunity to rebuild someone's damaged community while building your own community.”

This year’s mission trip included a couple of decks, a porch stair, and major renovations of two manufactured homes. The conditions are always heartbreaking, but the work is equally rewarding.

Geoff Cope and Steve Dunn of EDG2’s Bethesda, MD office, have led and participated in over a dozen mission trips over the past 20 years with their church. They have lent a hand with light construction projects for countless victims of earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods throughout the Western Hemisphere. This year’s trip was to Asheville, NC, on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene. The team included several seasoned veterans who know their way around most projects and a healthy bunch of rookies who were eager to learn and pitch in. Hurricane Helene severely impacted the Appalachian region of Western North Carolina during late September 2024, causing at least 106 reported deaths, over 2,200 landslides and significant destruction of infrastructure, communications, transportation and destroying communities across the region. The residents of Asheville were without power and water for 28 days following the storm. Asheville Regional Airport recorded 19.38" of rainfall before losing communication. Other areas nearby reported over 30" of rain. Much of the area, and the economy is still struggling to get back on its feet.