Community, students and staff remembered people lost, the devastations, the pain and the helpers by ringing a bell at the center of campus below the alumni clocktower on Friday, Sept. 26. Around 60 people surrounding the tower stood quietly while somber bell sounds followed the messages remembering and celebrating the people of WNC.
Joy Mischley, the director of the Center for Community Engagement and Service learning, invited anyone who wanted to honor someone to ring the bell. The bell was rung a total of 18 times in memory and honor of the victims and the heroes of Helene. One WCU student rang the bell “for anyone who has PTSD…and who possibly committed or considered committing suicide.”
After Hurricane Helene swept through the region, the National Centers for Environmental Information calculated Helene’s damage cost at $78.7 billion. WRAL News reported that “Helene was the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Maria in 2017,” with a total of 108 fatalities in Western North Carolina.
WCU’s campus survived Helene with minimal physical damages but many faculty, staff, students, families, friends and the whole community still feels the effects of the storm that destroyed so much.
Senior Emma Mynatt rang the bell and left a sunflower to remember her friends, first responders working on recovering the bodies of people who died during the storm. She says every time it rains she gets scared that another hurricane is going to hit.
Community and students alone or in groups remembered friends who they are still trying to find, strangers who helped them, first responders, people who cared for the animals and many more.
“It starts to rain a little bit and I’m like, oh my goodness what’s happening? Which is like a double edge sword as a paddler who used to get really excited about rain coming,” Mynatt said. She adds that heavy rain makes her healing process more painful and difficult.
In an inspiring act of kindness and charity, around $300,000 from donors was given to WCU after the hurricane to support emergency funds for students, faculty and staff. This funding provided many victims with a chance to rebuild and recover.
Mark Poff, a professor in the Communication department, lives in Asheville and could not believe the destruction of the city he’s been living in for the past 30 years.
“To see the devastation in my neighborhood was ridiculous. I live near a river, we walked down there and it was shocking to see the devastation. We’ve seen a lot of flooding there before but not to that degree,” Poff said.
WCU also hosted an oral history recording at the Catafount from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Listening Booth. This recording consisted of personal stories of victims and the community’s reaction to the devastation that occurred.
The remembrance day was part of the Mountain Heritage Days this year. The 50th Mountain Heritage Day festival was canceled a day before Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina.
https://imgur.com/a/stronger-together-one-year-after-hurricane-helene-tatum-gordon-pNSEpKf
