Americans are spending Thanksgiving in tents after Helen because heat, electricity, food are still hard to find.

As the holiday season begins, Western North Carolina residents who Lost everything during Hurricane Helen Want their fellow Americans to keep them in mind.

I some people Hard hit areas like Swannanoa and Burnsvilleor in hard-to-reach places nestled in the Appalachian Mountains, still living in tents or RVs where their homes once stood.

“We’re delivering campers,” Robert Pearson, a 2016 member of Louisiana-based rescue organization Cajun Navy, told Fox News Digital. “We delivered one just an hour before we did this interview, and we have two more that we’re going to deliver this afternoon. But people are donating campers to us, and we’re doing what we can. Try to help. We have a list of people who need help.”

The Cajun Navy 2016 is a group of civilian volunteers formed after Hurricane Katrina to help those in need during and after disasters. Since Sept. 27, the day Helen hit the North Carolina mountains, they’ve had volunteers on the ground, including Pearson.

WATCH: People live in tents in NC 2 months after Helen

“When we first got here, it was absolute chaos. There was a complete breakdown of infrastructure. There were no phones, no electricity, no water,” Pearson said. “And I’ll be honest with you, nobody knew what to do. We wound up in a little town called Clyde, and they destroyed their fire department. Like, just a whole town. The part was wiped out there and we stayed there.”

Hurricane Helene forced North Carolina residents to sleep in tents where houses once stood

Pearson said the town of Montreat offered Cajun Navy 2016 a building with 30 beds, and when the volunteers filled all 30 beds, Montreat gave them another building for more beds.

People are still in some places without cars, heating or internet.

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“Just seeing it in person. [versus] Looking at the pictures, it’s hard to imagine how bad it is. … I went through Katrina, and it’s like Katrina to me,” Pearson said. “The damage is as bad as it gets. It’s totally different because it’s in the mountains, so 100 yards, everything is fine. But 20 miles down that river, it’s total chaos.”

Some cannot rebuild due to government regulations. Others can rebuild but don’t have the money. Some are still without cars, and others have not found new work after losing their jobs. Bridges in cities and counties were destroyed and will take time to replace.

Pearson recalled delivering a camper to a family after about 18 inches of damage to their home. Flooding during Hellene

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“So, definitely salvageable. Everything can be fixed. But they’ve got this big sticker on the door that says the house is for demolition.” Pearson said. “So … there was a mortgage on the house. It’s not covered by the homeowner’s insurance because the river took it out. They didn’t have flood insurance because it wasn’t a flood zone. … They owed the mortgage. They have a house they can live in. I don’t have an answer for that?

Pearson delivered another camper to a family of five, including three children, who lost their home in the mudslide.

“I don’t think they had insurance. It was a 200-year-old house that had been handed down in the family for years and years. They’re not just nice people, they’re great people. And they’re generators going off because They don’t have a home to hook up to. [a] to a power pole,” Pearson said.

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Counties that depended on the fall tourist season lost millions of dollars in revenue. Buncombe County officials are projecting a 70% loss in revenue for businesses that rely on tourism and hospitality in the last quarter of 2024. According to WFAE.

Voluntary organizations such as Samaritan’s Purse.As well as churches and ministries across the United States still have boots on the ground in various towns around Western North Carolina. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) personnel are also still stationed in the area.

FEMA recently came under fire after former supervisor Marnie Washington directed agency relief workers to avoid reaching Florida homeowners who had Trump signs outside their homes following Hurricane Milton. were visible, which hit the US about two weeks after Helen. Washington appeared on “Fox News @ Night” on Nov. 14 and said she was “just following orders” from her superiors to avoid political encounters that could lead to hostility.

FEMA did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital when asked for comment on this story.

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In North Carolina, FEMA has so far provided “$722 million to help survivors with housing repairs, personal property replacements and other essential recovery efforts” and for debris removal and other emergency protection, according to an agency press release. $1.1 billion has been approved for services. FEMA has also deployed more than 4,800 personnel to the affected areas.

From across the country, Americans are donating everything from RVs to cars to tree trimming and roof repair services to those in need. But what Western North Carolina needs most now is money, according to people in the area.

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Corey Laughink, a Bakersville resident, told Fox News Digital that locals are struggling to get their daily needs because some major grocery stores are still closed and some roads are impassable.

“A lot of people are still living out of camps or finding campers to survive because they’re … living out of their cars or living in neighbors’ houses,” Loffink said. . “But then tomorrow is going to be our last day of warm weather. … The high on Tuesday next week is 28 degrees, with a low of 14. So it’s going to be a struggle to keep the heating up here.”

Two months after Helen, while many roads and properties look better than they did after Sept. 27, “there’s still so much struggle and so much personal struggle and individual family-to-family struggle,” Loffink said.

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“There’s going to be an issue for at least a few years to rebuild, you know, creating jobs, just people trying to figure out their lives.” he said. “Do they want to stay? Do they want to go? If they stay, they’re going to have to try to rebuild. There’s just a lot of complicated and stressful things that have come up after the hurricane for families here. ”

Loffink said it’s hard to drive by the same devastation every day that has cost some people their lives.

“So many people still say they cry every day, whether it’s for a loved one, a missing pet, seeing their family home destroyed.”

– Corey Laughink

“There are people who cry every day because it’s so upsetting,” Lofnik said. “I mean, you drive down Green Mountain and you see all the devastation there. … There are some houses, and they were completely washed away in the Green River, and there’s a cross. These families didn’t make it. Made, and it’s really unfortunate, but they had nowhere to go and you still [are] You’ll see these things every day when you’re driving.”

North Carolina man sleeping in tent after hurricane Helen had to rebury father’s casket on property

Volunteers are organizing hot Thanksgiving meals or delivering boxes of Thanksgiving food directly to people so they can cook at home.

Chances for Children Carolinas, an Asheville-based charity that was created by a group of kids as a Destination Imagination Club service project to help other kids get scholarships for extracurricular activities, created Grateful Village’s In partnership with Helene hosts a holiday fundraiser for survivors.

Chances for Children Carolinas volunteers organized a holiday pop-up store with donated gift items that local residents could purchase with vouchers, and 100% of the proceeds went directly back to families in need in Western North Carolina. .

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Founders Mary Hudson Harrelson and her mother, Anna Harrelson, said they wanted to create a way for people who had lost everything to buy gifts with dignity instead of collecting free donations. Harrelson described the people of western North Carolina as resilient and said that even those who have lost homes and vehicles are volunteering to help their neighbors.

Chances for Children Carolinas is collecting monetary donations through its website, chancesforchildrencarolinas.com, which they put directly into the hands of those in need who apply for assistance.