From September 20th to September 26th, I was in Black Mountain, North Carolina with my squad and D squad. We were given the opportunity to serve locally before leaving the country. Serving in Black Mountain looked like a lot of hurricane relief work. The town we were in, along with several others were hit by hurricane Helene on September 27th 2024. We were there almost on the one year anniversary of the hurricane. The work we did was mostly construction. I went to two houses. Some of us guys were at the first house for a few days. We did a lot of trim work and installing kitchen cabinetry. The second house we went to we were only there for one day, and I built a vanity. After being in Black Mountain for a few days, it hit me. The news can only show so much. You never really think about these homes and people and family’s from seeing it on TV. But once you’re there in person and able to see first hand how much they have been through, it does something to you. I’m so blessed to of been given this opportunity to work with these homeowners.
The other type of work I did was base ops. This just includes working around the base that we were at. We were staying and working with an organization called Adventures Relief. On base ops day me and some others from my squad insulated one of the tent walls. Sometimes doing base ops didn’t feel as important as helping a homeowner, but base ops is helping the organization to do more of what they already have.
Adventures Relief has only been around for a few years. Base ops is a way to help them grow. Our squads being there for a week, while it may not of seemed like that long or impactful, we were able to give some of the full time volunteers a rest. I am very happy to of been apart of this ministry experience. I went into it with no construction experience, and left with a greater appreciation of these people and the work they do then I ever had. We will be coming back to black mountain next may, this was a fantastic way to start this mission and it will be a great way to end it.
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