125 volunteers gather in Valdese to build sheds with generators, fridges for Hurricane Helene victims

Around 125 volunteers from nine states converged in Valdese last week to build and outfit 23 sheds to take to mountain communities for residents impacted by Hurricane Helene.

The volunteers gathered at the former Valdese High School and the Trail of Faith to do the work on the sheds. Tractor sheds that were purchased and already constructed were insulated, wired with electrical outlets, carpet laid and will include a refrigerator and generator, said Alice Venter, one of the volunteers with Patriot Relief and mayor pro-tem of Baldwin, Georgia. Other sheds were being built from the ground up.

The sheds will be taken to the communities of Cranberry and Minneapolis in Avery County, and Burnsville in Yancey County, Venter said.

The sheds won't have any plumbing but it will be a place for the people who receive them to store their belongings or get in out of the weather, said Leigh Brown, president of Patriot Relief and a real estate agent.

"If they want to put a mattress in there and spend the night, that's up to them," Brown said. "But it mainly is to get them a place to get out of the weather."

Brown describes Patriot Relief as a grassroots organization led by real estate agents. The project is funded by donations and volunteer labor, she said. Brown said the organization sprang up because people wanted to help their neighbors after Hurricane Helene hit. The Trail of Faith, which owns the property where the old high school was located, allowed the group to use its property, Brown said.

Brown said the group constructed the tractor sheds in Valdese to avoid placing a burden on the infrastructure of the areas that have been hit by the hurricane.

Whether the group will continue after its work for hurricane relief remains to be seen, Brown said.

"I'll see what the Lord tells me," Brown said of its future. "I'm not 100% sure. Right now, we are all focused on North Carolina."

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