ASHEVILLE – When Tropical Storm Helene knocked out power and cut water service at Laurel Wood Apartments, Sage Seeley and her neighbors pooled their resources.
Seeley, 72, set up a camp stove in the parking lot and, together with some of her other neighbors, began a dayslong tradition of cooking breakfast and dinner for the complex’s 40 residents. Kurt Richter, 69, became a local celebrity for his brew of “Cowboy Coffee” that he boiled on the stove and served through a strainer.
Meanwhile, a group of five residents over the age of 62 assembled a “water brigade,” trekking to a nearby creek to fill buckets with water they used to flush their toilets. And as food, water and other donations piled up, another group of neighbors set up a supply room in the style of a supermarket aisle, inviting residents to “shop” for free.
“We all pitched in what we could,” said Paula Cotton, 74, who helped make meals for the complex in the days after the storm. “I enjoyed coming down and helping – we all did.”
On Nov. 21, Seeley, Richter and Cotton were among a group of residents who enjoyed a hearty Thanksgiving meal at the 50-unit facility on Caribou Road in South Asheville. It was one of three such events set up by Volunteers of America, which owns and runs Laurel Wood Apartments and several other affordable living facilities in Asheville, to celebrate staff, volunteers and more than 200 residents who braved the storm at their various locations.
“They came together in a time that could have been a crisis,” said Donna Schmitz, the property manager of Laurel Wood Apartments. “It was amazing to be a part of it.”
After several speakers thanked local organizations for their donations and applauded the staff for working through the storm, residents were served platefuls of turkey, stuffing, string beans and mashed potatoes. Jack Dawson, a three-year resident of Laurel Wood Apartments, performed songs on an electric piano as his neighbors clapped along to his renditions of “Happy” by Pharrell Williams and Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me.”
More: Swannanoa woman creates pop-up in her yard to help neighbors after Helene’s devastation
As they ate, residents chatted about the initial days of Helene and recounted the rag-tag committees they had formed in the wake of the storm. While many said it was miserable to go days without water or electricity, they all said the experience brought them closer together.
“This gave me a chance to get to know them better,” Seeley said of her neighbors. “We had people come out of their rooms to have coffee and just talk. It did our hearts good.”
Manager moves into building as residents galvanize after Helene
Schmitz had only worked as the property manager for four months when Helene barreled across the region. The day before the storm, she and her husband left their RV in Hendersonville with a few days worth of clothes, camping chairs and some food, and moved into a vacant unit. Nearly two months later, they are still living there.
“I couldn’t not be here with our residents,” Schmitz said. “It was a good thing because we were blocked where we live so we wouldn’t have been able to get here if we had stayed home.”
The building sustained only minor roof damage, but the powerful winds and historic deluge knocked out their power and cut their water service. They were only in the dark for a few days. Water service was restored nearly two weeks after it went out, Schmitz said. On Nov. 18, the city lifted the boil advisory.
“I had people running into my office after it came on the news,” Schmitz recalled with a laugh.
The morning after Helene had passed, Seeley and Richter took out their camping stoves and began cooking eggs, sausages and bacon for their neighbors in the parking lot. For dinner, which was served at 4 p.m., they made due with ingredients the residents had brought out from their rooms. The evening menu often featured spaghetti, potatoes, “lots of salad” and an occasional stew, Seeley said.
“People said ‘These are the best meals I have had in a while,'” Seeley said. “I love to cook so I didn’t mind doing it.”
After the storm, a community grows stronger
Schmitz said the facility had filled up their storage units several times over with water, non-perishable food, sanitation products and other aid. The national branch of Volunteers of America, along with area nonprofits and individuals, delivered much of the supplies. Meanwhile, the World Central Kitchen stepped in to provided meals for all the residents.
Seeley was tasked with organizing a supply closet to better organize all the incoming supplies. In one of the building’s empty units, several residents installed shelving and converted it into a makeshift market. It was packed with Campbell’s soup, peanut butter, cases of water, cans of tuna, Spam, shampoo and deodorant.
A rotating staff of residents volunteered to work at the shop. In the weeks after the storm, residents at any of the Volunteers of America-owned complexes in Asheville could pick up food and supplies.
Seeley said the resolve and resilience of her neighbors has brought her to tears. Asheville and the Laurel Wood Apartments had become a long-desired refuge of friendship and community well over a year before Helene’s wrath.
In 2017, she became homeless when Hurricane Irma sank her sailboat off the coast of the Florida Keys. Everything she owned was in the boat when it went down, Seely said.
Seeking to start fresh, she moved to West Asheville where her friend had lived for many years. She fell in love with the Blue Ridge Mountains and soon set on forming a new life in the highlands, eventually moving into Laurel Wood Apartments in May 2023.
“I love being in Asheville,” she said. “This place has a heart.”
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Christopher Cann is a journalist with the USA TODAY Network reporting for the Asheville Citizen Times in the wake of Tropical Storm Helene.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Helene survivors share Thanksgiving meal at senior living facility
