Appalachian Rebuild Project

The Appalachian Rebuild Project (ARP) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to rebuilding the Appalachian region through volunteerism.

[Appalachian Rebuild Project @ARP_appalachian]

This is our boy @Wendigoon8 walking around Knobby Creek a week after Helene hit. Not only can Isaiah carry a very heavy ruck, but he can also post a fire video outlining the aftermath of Helene. That video is out now, forever thankful to have Isaiah.

https://t.co/vtQ5ORSUEj

[Appalachian Rebuild Project @ARP_appalachian]

I love getting in the volunteers way while they’re doing complex physical labor out of the goodness of their hearts :) 👍 thx guys!

[Appalachian Rebuild Project @ARP_appalachian]

There are many questions swirling the internet about the aftermath of Helene, and there’s a burning question on the minds of the ARP team… how did we collect the most handsome, hardworking, and talented group of folks from all of Avery Mitchell Yancey? We may never know.

[Appalachian Rebuild Project @ARP_appalachian]

Another before and after on the North Toe. Sitting on the exact same rock, with the water a lot murkier and the noises less peaceful.

[Appalachian Rebuild Project @ARP_appalachian]

Though I couldn’t take the same footage, these videos are from the same spot. Only now, the footbridge is tangled in guardrails and rebar along the bank. May our rivers run clear as they once did.

[Appalachian Rebuild Project @ARP_appalachian]

In case yall are wondering what a daily commute looks like in WNC. This footage was taken yesterday (11/8), 6 weeks after Helene hit. This is our new normal.

[Appalachian Rebuild Project @ARP_appalachian]

October 1st: Day Five
Ramseytown and Jacks Creek

The scariest part was the isolation. Using time stamps and radios as the only ways to keep track of each other. We’d gone out this day to bring the water and MRE’s to people who still weren’t able to make it out of their homes.

[Wendigoon @Wendigoon8]

Addressing the charity allegations...

[Appalachian Rebuild Project @ARP_appalachian]

September 30th: Day Four
Murphytown, NC

Trying to write less than 280 characters about snapshots of the most heartbreaking sights I’ve ever witnessed is for the birds today. I took these while we rucked 20 MRE’s into an area fully isolated from roadways. They can talk instead.

[Appalachian Rebuild Project @ARP_appalachian]

Copyright ©️ November 1977 Yancey Graphics, Inc.
Compiled and Designed by: Judy Higgins and Ann Hawthorne
Photographs by Ann Hawthorne, Jody Higgins, Ed Yuziuk, Pat Randolph, Bill Randolph, Kermit Banks, Maury Faggart, Elizabeth Moriarty.

[Appalachian Rebuild Project @ARP_appalachian]

47 years ago today.
“…thousands and thousands of rural families whose lives and livelihoods were so totally disrupted that it
will take years to recover, while the scars and memories will be permanent. “

[Appalachian Rebuild Project @ARP_appalachian]

September 29th: Day Three pt.2
Three Mile Aid Station

Thats me with the braids, walking alongside my sister after we’d set up our first signs for the station we’d run for a day now. With no service on the mountain, a working starlink was the most valuable thing we could offer.

[Appalachian Rebuild Project @ARP_appalachian]

September 29th, Day Three pt. 1
More searching.

This shoddy video footage shows what used to be a road, where we’d realized our friend Don had to have walked on foot to get out of his home, taking only what he could carry.

[Appalachian Rebuild Project @ARP_appalachian]

September 28th, Day Two
Cane River, Yancey County

When it started, all we knew to do was find those we care about and make sure they were still around. My brothers left that day to lay eyes on our friend Don. Don’s house was taken by the river, alongside his family cemetery.

[Appalachian Rebuild Project @ARP_appalachian]

September 27, Day One.
HWY 19E in Yancey County NC.

Shortly after taking this footage, I’d spend the rest of the day trying to make contact with my family across the county line. This was the first day of a much bigger story many of us were yet to understand.

[Wendigoon @Wendigoon8]

Hey so remember how I said we may just start our own organization??