09/26/2025
With the one year anniversary of Hurricane Helene coming up, the memories of that storm are on all of our minds. Our small mountain community suffered greatly that week and for the following year. Our residents were evacuated, families were worried about their loved ones, staff members lost property, and were worried that they wouldn’t have jobs.
But what I want to remember is the strenght that our Yancey House family showed throughout this tragedy. Through back breaking work, like carrying water to flush toilets, to caring for our residents in the dark, feeding them with limited supplies, and trying to encourage each other that we could get through this storm, we rose to every challenge that we were presented. Our town law enforcement, local DSS, fire departments, and neighbors came together to help us figure out how to care for these precious residents when we were truly struggling. I have never been more proud of a group of people than I was of my staff and my community during those days.
Our home office brought truck loads of supplies to our town to help our friends, families, and neighbors. They supplied us with Starlink satellites to help us communicate with everyone. I have never been a part of such a large scale humanitarian effort that hit so close to home. Suddenly, our facility became a becon for the community to eat and contact their loved ones! So, in a different way, we were still care givers, but in a much larger scale.
I hope we never have to go through something like that again, but if we do, I would take my Yancey House team, and Yancey County neighbors and service members over anyone! We were, and still are, !
Thank you all!
Renee Robinson
Executive Director
Yancey House