Don't Forget Western North Carolina

The Need Goes On...

It’s been six weeks since Hurricane Helene raped the western counties of North Carolina.

Two weeks later Hurricane Milton swept across Florida with sustained 100 mile an winds and tornadoes.

The national media left the devastation in North Carolina and focused on Florida.

They left behind the story of death and destruction that will affect the area for generations to cover just another hurricane in the Sunshine State.

The gut-wrenching stories about the condition it left thousands of families to deal with would fill volumes. The stories of the herculean efforts of volunteers to provide minimal subsistence to the people will never be sufficiently told.

Hurricane Helene brought catastrophic flooding to western North Carolina devastating dozens of communities. About 1,400 landslides were reported in the area, according to the Associated Press, and at least 6,000 miles of road were damaged.

The death toll has reached 102.

The hardest hit area was Buncombe County, where 43 of those deaths occurred. Eleven members of one family were taken out by one massive mudslide.

Swannanoa, N.C., a tight-knit community with about 5,000 people was changed forever by the flooding.

That’s where Cowboy Dave Graham immediately headed to set up his Hearts Hurt ministry to assist the people with their immediate necessities and their spiritual needs.

Cowboy is a slight-built man with calloused hands, evidence that he’s hard into the work that needs to be done. His sweat-stained straw cowboy hat is a fixture of his appearance, as is the stubble on his face, which indicates that he gets right to work each day.

He sleeps in his truck or a tent.

“If the people affected have to sleep in tents or worse, I’m with them,” he says.

Since he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior almost 40 years ago after a Gideon Bible, with its hard cover removed, was slipped through the door to his solitary confinement cell in a jail, Cowboy has been taking his work to disasters of all kinds, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and even school shootings.

His wife sends him off and keeps the ministry on track from home. They have committed Dave to Swannanoa at least through the holidays. Churches and organizations provide goods that he distributes from his truck and his tent and he uses financial donations to Hearts Hurt for things like buying gasoline to fill cans to get on the mountains to fuel portable generators, or bailing someone out of an immediate emergency.

Upon arriving at Swannanoa he set up his operations and almost immediately a thief cut through his tent and stole supplies, his cell phone and Cowboy’s stash of cash. It turns out the thief was a professional one who traveled for years from disaster to disaster in a U-Haul truck and preyed on the victims at their worst possible moment.

Cowboy videoed the culprit loading stuff in a truck, got the license number and reported it to the police. The thief has been arrested, but his supplies, phone and cash were long gone.

Cowboy’s camp is near a former gas station that has an air compressor, so he helps people with tire repair. He tells of one single mother who showed up driving her car with windows broken out and running on four rims, no tires.

“She has tires, now,” Cowboy says.

The word is that FEMA will end housing allowances at the end of the month, but people have no place to go. Some folks say their land was never in a flood plain before, but now they are being told they can’t even have a tent on their own land. Most are defying that edict.

A Swannanoa self-storage facility had 120 units flooded. The renters have come and removed anything salvageable, but left the rest in the mud-filled units.

People are concerned about where they can put what little they have left if they are no longer able to stay in the hotel rooms they have been renting with FEMA assistance.

Cowboy Dave worked an arrangement with the storage facility owners, who have been waiting for a contractor to clean the units, to clean some of the units if the owners would allow locals to use them rent free for emergency storage.

He’s cleaned seven units so far.

Swannanoa still needs volunteers and donated necessities.

There is a constant need to replace the hygiene supplies. Supplies, thankfully, are still coming from all over the country. The need will be here for months, and winter is coming for people living in make-shift quarters.

The weather has been merciful so far. It’s only rained a handful of times since the flood. It’s actually getting too dry.

Volunteers are needed to cook meals and to do construction work.

Some campers are arriving to transition families from tents to trailers.

Construction tools are needed, pneumatic nailers, generators, power saws etc.

Cowboy’s ministry is God centered.

“I’m able to share Christ every day,” he said. “I have a fire and people are welcome to come, even with a beer in their hand. Everyone’s welcome and I have a chance to share my faith with them.”

He tells of a man sheltering close by who had watched in his rearview mirror as a wall of water from a dam break overtook his girlfriend in her car as they tried to escape the flooding. She was found dead in her car the next day.”

Cowboy has befriended the man and is sharing the gospel with him.

“It’s a mess, but people are making decisions,” Cowboy said. “I have spiritual conversations every day. I pray for people.”

When he is not working a disaster, Cowboy travels the country speaking on behalf of Gideons International.  He credits that Gideon Bible that he received decades ago with saving and changing his life. That single Bible has resulted in thousands of disaster victims being served, loved, uplifted. Many who have come in contact with Cowboy Dave have sought God’s eternal salvation.

What does he need?

“First I need your prayers,” he said. “Then I need to raise funds. The needs here are on-going. It takes money to fix flat tires, to deliver gasoline, to meet immediate needs of these victims.”

You can see more about Cowboy’s work with videos and information from Swannanoa on Facebook at Dave Graham Cowboy.

To make a contribution by text, text the word “give” to 7409245113 follow the prompts.

Or, Venmo: @heartshurt. You will need these numbers when prompted: 8612

Thanks for reading. Your comments and suggestions are most welcomed and appreciated and the will make this post much more interesting.

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