03/01/2026
Today, it was the can of Hershey's Syrup that got me, I think. Seems like it's something every day or so.....but today, it was this can of Hershey's Syrup.
Some friends brought a trailer load of goods for our Burnsville people. Fresh tomatoes, perfectly ripe banannas, groceries....good groceries for our Community Fridge. Fresh sausage from their farm. Homemade pimento cheese.... They brought bedding and paint, paper towels and toilet paper... and this single can of Hershey's Syrup.
I slipped that can into my jacket pocket and saved it for later. I just had to keep that one for me. We handed the rest of it out until it was gone.
This darling little 5 year old boy was so happy with his cans of beans. He melted my heart. Just a precious baby. I'll always remember him.
Like so many other groups that have poured and poured and poured into Yancey County, we have forged relationships with these people that I pray stay so strong forever. My friend Detra Busick has led the way from Mt. Airy, JayKim Foushee from Helena Methodist Church of Timberlake, NC, and SO many others that have just given and given and given some more. EddieandLaura Burton .... holy cow. Couldn't have survived without you. The Regina Sipe and Randy Sipe families from Claremont, and just so many others. Mike Jennifer Johnson.... just so many.
People I will never ever forget, or be able to repay. Ever.
And today....I think I finally just broke a little.
I saw more tears today than I've seen in over a year. I saw more hurt and more panic than I've seen in a long time.
Mountain people are tough. Very tough.
But my gosh. It's been TOUGH.
I read a newspaper article yesterday that made me mad. I mean, the furious kind of mad....about the lack of funding appropriated to our people. I literally almost derailed for a minute. I could feel my nervous system just churning like it hasn't in a good while.
People are still in a mess. A bad mess.
But for today....
Between the "Chicken Pickens" and the Stew Cookings, and the BBQ's and the yard sales and the fundraisers from all over the place ....
Today, another envelope showed up. A big one.
A prayer shawl card and three bags of hand made shawls... made with such love.
So. Much. Love.
So. Many. Prayers.
I saw people wrap up in them and close their eyes and take a deep breath. A good, deep breath. Most people still dont take the time to take a good deep breath. There's so much yet to do.
We have used our porch and warehouse for a strong distribution center since about day 3 of the storm. That was well over 500 days ago. God has blessed us unbelievably during this time, but it's not been easy. Not one day of it has been easy.
We watch it daily, participate in it daily....the hurt people are still dealing with.
This can of Hershey's.... it literally transported me back in time. Back to my Grandma's kitchen. To the hand held can opener with the triangles in the end to open it with. She'd drizzle it over most everything. That little can was never empty. Ever. I don't know how she did that. But, she did.
Never empty.
She was the dessert maker for our whole community of Grassy Creek. She almost always made two of everything. One for the church or the family she was serving, and one for us. Grandma was our neighbor. She'd either let me bring it up the hill to our fridge, or we'd hide it downstairs at her house. There was always extra. It never ran out. The fridge was never empty. Ever. Always a little something something in it. Most often with a little chocolate drizzle on it.
The point of that, is not the chocolate drizzle.
It was the gift she had of serving others. Of always giving to others. Of always making sure everyone she knew had something special. It did usually involve chocolate, but that's beside the point.
Grandma never met a stranger. She'd take you right in and feed you up and love you like her own.
She was fierce like that.
And she topped everything off with a little chocolate drizzle❤️
The people that have come to us since Helene....
They didn't even know us. Alot of them had never even heard of Burnsville.
They've been fierce like Grandma.
They have made sure we have what we need. They've made sure there was extra.
They came. And they came again. And again.
And again. They brought their friends. They brought their churches. Their families.
They brought help.
Love.
Supplies.
Money.
Hope.
They brought HOPE.
If you live here, you know how desperately we've needed that. All that.
If you dont live here, thank you for all you've done.
Seriously.
One day, when all this is over... and we are back in our homes, back at our jobs.... when our landscapes look beautiful again, when our frantic spirits have settled a little....
Maybe one day we can truly express what it means to us that you've been here.
That you've loved us.
That you've supported us.
That you've given and given some more.
Thank you for the "extra."
Thank you for the drizzle.... of love. And hope.
And today, thanks to whomever sent that little can of Hershey's Syrup.
It calmed my soul.
❤️
