After providing dozens of temporary shelters for victims of Hurricane Helene’s wrath, a Gretna-based ministry soon will pivot to helping people remodel and rebuild their homes.

Cabins4Christ launched in only a matter of days after Devin Taylor, the founder of Campers Care, saw the immediate need for people in western North Carolina.

Taylor founded his first nonprofit in 2000 as a way for victims of a disaster to stay on their property while their homes were being rebuilt. Heavily based in faith, that ministry provided campers as temporary lodging.

Seeing what was unfolding in the wake of devastating flooding, Taylor quickly came up with an idea to build 8-by-16-foot cabins to give people a place to stay.

A volunteer works to build a Cabins4Christ unit in Buncombe County, N.C. The sheds provide temporary housing for residents displaced by flooding in the state.

“We are just trying to meet needs to keep people on their property,” Taylor told the Register & Bee in a recent interview. “Keep them close to home, keep them on their property, so they can safeguard their stuff and have some sense of normalcy of getting rebuilt.”

In all, there were about 190 cabins or campers either in place or being constructed in the days leading up to Christmas. At first, CRB Electric and A&A Mechanical owners Chris and Anna Blair led the operation out of their Chatham-based establishment in October.

Now the cabins are put together at the Billy Graham Training Center in Buncombe County, North Carolina. But as that facility gears up to return to operation, Taylor has purchased land in that area to serve as a base.

Even months after Helene hit in late September, the devastation is still all too clear.

Although things are progressing “little by little,” the photos from the mainstream media “doesn’t do it justice,” Taylor said.

Seeing the pictures is one thing. But adding other senses like hearing, smelling and touch is when it really hits.

“When you put all four of those things together in this area, a picture just can’t describe it,” Taylor said of the situation on the ground in Buncombe County, an area near Asheville, North Carolina.

A worker walks among the debris in the wake of historic flooding in Buncombe County, N.C.

“You’ve got to take all of that into consideration,” he said.

The Rev. Adam Cook, pastor of Union Church in Danville, ventured down to help out during the second week of this month.

“I was actually shocked we were two or three months into it and it still looked like a war zone,” he told the Register & Bee.

“It was just almost unbelievable,” he said. “It was just destruction everywhere.”

Cook and about 20 volunteers from the Danville church went to help Taylor’s mission.

“We are always looking for ways in which to serve in the community,” Cook said.

The church already builds homes in the Dominican Republic as part of mission work and they also work on homes locally through things called “Prove it Days.”

“So going and helping them build cabins for people who need homes just fit really well into our mission,” he explained.

Although first thinking they would be building cabins for lodging, Taylor said the need had changed. In the span of two days, the Danville group constructed about a dozen smaller sheds that were given out to residents to hold items, including the outpouring of Christmas gifts received.

“We have shifted our focus to providing buildings to those families to secure those items,” Taylor said of the residents having no place to put the gifts.

“And there’s no way to keep them secured and the looting is still going on every day,” he said.

However, the idea for the Cabins4Christ aspect soon will be wrapping up.

“The temporary housing portion of it is pretty much coming to a head,” Taylor explained.

The group has four homes under construction to remodel and will move more in that direction of aid in the coming weeks.

Otherwise, Taylor said he’ll continue to adjust as the need changes.

“I don’t know if anybody could answer that,” he said when asked what he sees as the eventual evolution. “I don’t think anyone has ever seen anything quite like this devastation.”

Volunteers work on a home damaged by Hurricane Helene in the Buncombe County area of North Carolina.

Main cabins

“It’s a constant ministry,” Taylor said. “It’s not just delivering them a cabin.”

Taylor can provide a heat source and although they don’t energize the units, they can add a solar unit to allow for charging of electronic devices and such.

With power being restored, some people are running drop cords to the cabins, he said.

Each family dynamic is different. Some of the cabins have bunk beds to give more sleeping space.

“If it’s a larger family, we’ll deliver two,” Taylor explained of the units. That way, children can have one cabin, and the parents can have the other.

Cabins come with a compostable toilet and some have solar shower units.

Up until recently, the American Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency had mobile shower trailers for residents to use, but those have since moved out.

Taylor is now building shower cabins and ones with washers and dryers to “strategically place” to fill that need.

Before the holidays, Taylor tried to find one targeted item for children living in a Cabin4Christ to brighten the Christmas season.

“But also we have to take care of mom and dad and also if there’s a grandma, grandpa in the picture, we’ll kind of ease that burden and make sure they get something, too,” he explained, again pointing to the ongoing ministry to check in with the residents.

Cabins4Christ is temporarily established at the Billy Graham Training Center but soon will move operations to land founder Devin Taylor recently purchased.

Other help

The team from Union Church met many folks in the Buncombe County still dealing with the impacts left behind from Helene.

One person had a home almost completely destroyed by a mudslide. His family had been on that land for about 100-plus years.

The man and his wife were still able to live in the structure, but there was debris all around it from where a porch had been ripped off.

The man had said aloud while Cook and his team were around that he hoped to get the debris removed.

“A couple of guys did that at about 1 o’clock in the morning, so when he woke up the next day it would be gone,” Cook told the Register & Bee.

“He woke up and realized it was gone and was so thankful and we popped up just in happenstance right after he had seen it,” Cook said. “I just can’t explain how thankful he was.”

Then the man told his survival story.

During the ravaging flooding, he got caught in mud but somehow managed to free himself after he got pinned in between vehicles. He was able to get back to his wife, get her out of the house and they “hid” on a hill until it was over.

“He teared up telling us his story,” Cook said of the man who had to use a ladder to get in and out of his home.

“It’s so many stories and it’s a roller coaster of stories,” Taylor explained of what he’s witnessed on his nonprofit journey. However, some people are private and do not like to share details.

Fundraising and volunteers

“Every state has been represented here with the exception of Alaska and Hawaii,” Taylor said of the volunteers who come.

He even had someone from Germany and Puerto Rico fly out to volunteer for the mission.

He also had someone donate a camper and pulled it there from Colorado.

“Fundraising has been good,” Taylor said, noting it peaks around the holidays.

“We could always use more,” he continued. “The more we have the more we can do.”

He also explained they are targeted with the money received. For example, some people earmark contributions for a cabin and others want the money used for rebuilding homes.

Taylor makes sure the donations go to the intended cause.

Meanwhile, Cook has already made plans to go back by mid-January.

“There is so much need that is going to continue to be there for a very long time,” he said, while also praising the efforts by Taylor.

“The cool thing about this Cabin4Christ thing is how organic it has just happened,” Cook said.

Taylor saw a need and met it.

“And you can really see the Lord’s hand on it,” Cook said.

To learn more and donate, visit cabins4christ.com .