Hurricane Helene can’t deter Haywood’s volunteer spirit
Volunteers (left to right) Sue Cummings, Katherine Ramey, Ed Bailey, Bri Myles, Andy Bailey and Bob Cummings, cooked and plated hot meals at Haywood Pathways Center on Oct. 5.
Cory Vaillancourt photo
Throughout Hurricane Helene, the slogan going around Haywood County has been, “neighbors helping neighbors.” The personification of those words is nowhere more apparent than at Haywood Pathways Center in Waynesville, where a small group of volunteers gathered on Oct. 5 to minister to some of the county’s most vulnerable residents.
“I love the people here, and there's been a lot of kind people who've helped me out during this storm,” said Bri Myles, who lives in Cullowhee and studies anthropology at Western Carolina University. “I need to pay it forward, keep the good energy going.”
Pathways is a Christ-centered residential center that provides food, shelter and personalized support services to anyone that needs it — especially those experiencing homelessness, substance abuse disorder or economic distress. Since 2014, Pathways has provided more than $8.5 million in services to residents of Haywood County at almost no cost to taxpayers.
When Helene ravaged Western North Carolina on Sept. 27, Myles was in Asheville, where she works. Her parents live in Canton, and she’s staying with them until things return to normal.
“I couldn't think of a better way to spend my time,” she said. “Like, I could play video games or whatever, but I like hanging out with people, making people food, making good energy.”
Myles had been to Pathways to serve before, as had Bob Cummings, the reintegration program manager and classification officer for the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office. Cummings is also a priest at Waynesville’s Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church, where he’s known as Father John. He and his wife, Sue, head up a volunteer cook team at Pathways with church members. Their home was undamaged, so they headed over to Pathways on their regular day to do what they’ve been doing for years — selflessly serving the community in which they live and work.
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“This is what we do. This is what people do, especially in a time of crisis, like now. People stick together. So we've been coming here for five or six years. What's different today is the volume of people and the fact that we have people in great crisis,” he said. “People have lost everything. Some things we can't fix, but we can give them a fantastic meal that is going to fill them up.”
And it did — a rich chicken stew with tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms and onions; roasted chicken drumsticks with barbecue sauce and crisp-fried jalapenos; boiled squash and zucchini with shallots; home fries and bread. Pathways is supported almost exclusively by private donors and partnerships with Manna FoodBank (now operating out of a temporary location after losing their sprawling facility) and Publix.
Andy Bailey was celebrating his birthday on Edisto Island with his wife, Robin, just as the storm hit. When he returned, he discovered his house was undamaged so he immediately went to work as a volunteer at the Jonathan Valley Elementary School aid distribution site, even taking part in a caravan to deliver supplies to hard-hit campgrounds along Moody Farm Road.
A draftsman by trade, Bailey was making his first visit to Pathways. He’s not a member of any church, but he does have a spiritual side that compelled him to put his personal business on hold and continue with his volunteer work.
“I've been a member of this community for 20 years, and I have prospered. The community has been great for me. I want to give something back,” Bailey said.
Bailey’s nephew, Ed Bailey, a Navy veteran who works with uncle Andy, turned up with his partner Katherine Ramey, a nurse practitioner. Ramey serves on Haywood County’s planning board and is also a member of Clyde’s planning board. On that beautiful Saturday afternoon, and with so much planning board work to come in the months and years ahead, Ramey said she’d been in Asheville all week but still wanted to spend her day off continuing to be helpful.
“I work for HCA Healthcare, Mission Hospital, so I've seen the support and the amount of volunteers and effort that we've put in for Buncombe County there,” she said. “I feel like I hadn't done enough for Haywood County, which is where I live — born and raised, been here all my life — so we’re stepping in today do a little bit for Haywood County and help out where we can.”
Ramey and Bailey’s home was unaffected, which left Ed feeling like he could do more.
“I’ve been watching from our house this week and helping around the neighborhood until our neighborhood was good,” he said. “Since then, I've just been looking for other ways to help out the community.”
To learn more about Haywood Pathways Center or to make a donation, visit haywoodpathwayscenter.org.
