Lehigh Alumni Aid in Hurricane Helene Relief Efforts in North Carolina

Ashley Kreitz ’15 couldn’t bear the sight of the storm-ravaged North Carolina mountains in her rearview mirror as she drove north toward her home state of Pennsylvania and away from the path of Hurricane Helene – a Category 4 storm that devastated parts of the South in late September.

“As I was driving away from North Carolina, I really just knew that I was going the wrong way and I had to go back and help,” Kreitz recalled.

Helene made landfall in North Carolina on September 27, generating record rainfall and causing severe flooding and landslides that damaged thousands of homes. To date, Helene is the third-deadliest U.S. storm in the 21st century, with nearly 100 confirmed deaths in North Carolina alone and dozens more still missing as of October 23, according to a report from the North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management.

It’s disasters like Helene that are at the core of the work being done by researchers in The Center of Catastrophe Modeling and Resilience, Lehigh University’s first University Research Center, as they attempt to assess the risk of these kinds of events and plan for them. Such disasters raise questions about what can be done to ensure communities can withstand catastrophes and quickly rebuild. It is the latter that has also become the focus of Kreitz’s volunteer efforts in North Carolina.

After spending a few years working as an environmental science instructor in Charlotte, North Carolina and canoeing and biking through the mountains in her free time, Kreitz felt a deep connection to the state – one that inspired her to take action and help those suffering from devastation caused by the storm.

Since early October, Kreitz has taken to Facebook to raise nearly $10,000 in donations, gathered via Venmo and PayPal, to help those impacted by Hurricane Helene damage. She has also recruited dozens of volunteers, including two fellow Lehigh alumni and a Pennsylvania-based construction crew, to aid her in her efforts of cleaning out and restoring damaged homes in Barnardsville, North Carolina.

Barnardsville is a small mountain town located about 20 minutes north of Asheville, North Carolina that was particularly impacted by the hurricane. According to Kreitz, the small creek that runs through the town overflowed during the storm and flooded many homes in the area, sweeping some entirely off their foundations.

Although the house fared better than the mobile home, the flood waters caused extensive damages that required a gut renovation.

“The carpets were completely soaked, and mold was already beginning to grow on the damp walls by the time we got there,” Kreitz said. “We knew immediately that the carpet and lower half of the walls had to come out.”

After building a rapport with the family and posting images of their home on Facebook to raise funds for the repairs needed, Kreitz took it upon herself to begin the demolition.

“The mother and father are older, and they weren’t able to move all their furniture and tear up the walls and carpets, as it is too big of a task for them,” she said. “So we just decided to do it – you just have to jump in there and help them take action.”

“The family we are working with is just so thankful,” she said. “As soon as they see me coming, they just greet me with a big smile and a hug, and they welcome me in like I am family now. I feel very welcome for the rest of my life, and it’s just a good connection.”

The rewarding restoration experience has inspired Kreitz to take a break from her career in tree removal work and live and volunteer full-time in North Carolina through late November. She set up a campsite for herself at a community center, and plans to find more restoration projects to tackle by going out and searching for those that need help.

“The hardest part is identifying families in need,” she said. “Most homes are complete teardowns waiting to happen, and it is hard to identify who we can help with repairs, since most of the folks we meet aren’t the type to ask for help.”

Kreitz said she is so grateful for the outpouring of support and monetary donations that she’s received for those in need. While the generosity has been a driving force in her ability to help families, Kreitz said the donations have begun to slow down and she is still in need of funds and volunteers to get more renovation projects done.

“These families just don't have the resources to rebuild their own homes, so we need funding in order to purchase materials and also volunteers who will come and put in the work,” she said. “And many families need funds to buy campers or modular homes to replace the homes they can’t salvage.”

While coordinating everything – from posting renovation progress on Facebook to crowdsourcing volunteers to fundraising to project planning – consumes the majority of her days and nights, Kreitz said she finds the work so rewarding and attributes her success to a specific foundation she studied as an undergraduate student at Lehigh.

“The scientific method taught me to have procedures in place,” she said. “It helps you think through problems and make sure that you are not skipping steps or overlooking things.”

Gregory said she is amazed by Kreitz’s efforts and would love to volunteer again on one of her future projects.

“It has been amazing to see her bring all the people together on this crew to help out this family, and it’s been such a joy to work with her,” she said. “She has been such a superstar.”

Both Kreitz and Gregory noted that while the hurricane relief efforts currently have momentum behind them, they encourage everyone to not be afraid to take action and keep that momentum going, as areas like Barnardsville could experience a long road to recovery.

“Don’t be afraid that you don’t know what you’re doing, you just have to go do it,” Kreitz said. “Like everything in life, you figure it out as you go. You just have to start somewhere and just go for it.”

To learn more about Kreitz’s efforts, follow her on Facebook. Kreitz is accepting donations via Venmo (@Ashley-Kreitz-2).