Erwin Flood Recovery

      On September 27th, our area was devastated by major flooding and wind damage caused by Hurricane Helene. The Nolichucky River that runs through portions of Unicoi County and near the Town of Erwin rose to historically high levels resulting in catastophic damage to homes, businesses, roads, bridges, and other infrastructure like power, water, and communication lines. Tragically, at least 5 local residents have been found and confirmed dead with some still missing.



      Soon after the disaster, many people and organizations began working on rescue, relief and recovery efforts. Our church congregation has several members that were involved in some of the critical response efforts almost immediately. Others have been more involved in the efforts to collect and sort the donations that have come in.

      At this time, we have not established a specific church fund for Erwin flood recovery. We are hosting a displaced family in our Hospitality House, but our expenses for that are minimal. Instead, we are recommending that people give most of their time and resources to other local organizations that are more directly involved in recovery, whom we are actively supporting and partnering with. Financial gifts given to the church and designated for Erwin flood victims will likely be directed to these groups unless the church decides to pursue other projects in the future.

      Here are some of the local organizations and other churches we are partnering with to provide needed help:


Unicoi County Care & Share

344 Carolina Avenue, Erwin, TN 37650

(423) 735-0770

This local benevolence ministry has played a key role in relief and recovery efforts from the beginning. The Executive Director, Ben Booher, is one of our elders and we regularly support this ministry with financial and physical donations as well as volunteers.

We are currently serving as the overflow donation storage location for this ministry and will re-supply them as needed with clothing, linens, blankets, kitchen items, toys, and other miscellaneous items.

** Due to the incredible response of generous donations, we are no longer accepting new donations that have not been specifically arranged with church staff or leaders at our church location. Please direct larger donations to Bristol Motor Speedway and contact Care & Share about the possibility of smaller donations of needed items **

To coordinate volunteering or financial gifts, please contact Ben Booher at (423) 735-0770

Appalachian Christian Camp

512 Cross Circle, Unicoi, TN 37692

(423) 743-3910

This local camp facility cancelled all scheduled retreats and opened up their facility to provide lodging, power, water, and internet service to displaced families as well as first responders and volunteer workers who have come to the area to help.

Read more here: https://wcyb.com/news/local/appalachian-christian-camp-transforms-into-haven-for-helene-victims

We are currently providing some volunteer support and supplying resources to the camp as needed to support this effort.

For anyone interested in helping at the camp with guest services, food service, cleaning, laundry, or brush cleanup please use this link: https://signup.com/go/YgcFXpu

To support the camp’s work financially, use this link: https://campacc.com/sections/support/donate/

International Disaster Emergency Services (IDES)

For many years we have also faithfully supported the work of IDES in a variety of places. Most recently, in February our youth group fasted for 24 hours and raised money for some of the work they are doing around the world to help people in Jesus name.

Following this disaster, IDES is now in our area helping with recovery efforts. They are currently based in Elizabethton, TN, but are sending work groups and support throughout our area, including to some of the hardest hit areas in and around Erwin.

If you or someone you know is in need of volunteer help, please contact our church through the website or by calling (423) 743-3811 and tell us more about what you need so we can submit a request to IDES.

If you would like to join one of their volunteer teams, you can sign up on their website at this link: https://ides.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/

If you would like to support the work of IDES financially, you can donate here: https://givebutter.com/HurricaneResponse

Partner Churches Who Have Donated Resources To Us

The following churches have graciously reached out to us and provided some additional resources and support during the recovery efforts. Several others have also offered help that we have had to turn down or direct elsewhere due to our limited space and capacity to manage what they had to offer. We thank them all!

As other opportunities to help arise in the future we will post updates.

Last update: 10/11/24 @ 12:30pm