(tranquil bright music)
- We picked this area just because of the view.
We got a good view of the mountains.
The kitchen'll be in that corner, the living room
and then the bedrooms and everything from there back.
Sort of hard to imagine it right now,
but I mean it'll come together
and it'll be beautiful I'm sure.
We are excited.
I mean we've got a home we're living in,
we're living with my daughter,
but we're ready to get our lives back and have our own home.
(tranquil bright music)
(apprehensive music) (water roaring)
- Hurricane Helene, when it came through on September 27th,
it devastated this community.
- The devastation of it was really overwhelming.
- It was demolished.
I mean the road's gone, home's gone.
Bridge is gone.
I mean you just, it was just like a bomb landed.
A lot of people lost everything.
- Once that happened
and everybody got destroyed or washed away,
it brought people together
and then, hey, we gotta help each other.
- Barnardsville is one of those idyllic,
old-fashioned kind of communities
where everybody knows each other.
It's not a municipality,
there's no mayor or anything like that.
So the fire department
is really our primary municipal building
and those men and women
are just so embedded in the community.
After the storm, Phillip Kuykendall,
one of our captains and a public servant his entire life,
stayed on.
I think he did 30 days straight,
just helping his neighbors.
- You can see the water level
that was on my block building.
That's how high the water was
and the house set a little bit lower than that.
So, I mean we had like three and a half feet of water
inside the house.
It was a horrible sight.
We just shut the door and walked away and cried.
- We didn't even realize till later on
that his home was completely destroyed
and that's what his wife
and his teenage son were living through
while he was selflessly helping his neighbors.
So really, it was his whole family that sacrificed.
- 12 months after the flood,
there's still so much to be done in our community.
- Thank goodness our community did step up.
Without outside help, it'd be a many, many more years
before we could even see daylight.
- People get worried.
Cause okay, we know we had all the help
and, of course, the people
that we're helping have gone home.
So when Travelers came in,
it's bringing more hope that we're not forgotten.
- Travelers, are we ready to go?
(workers cheering) (workers clapping)
- The Big Ivy Historical Park
is something that we're really proud of as a community.
We're truly grateful Travelers coming in to help
and the projects that they're undertaking.
- The historical park was pretty much destroyed
and to get it revitalized,
it's a tremendous effect on the community
and I think that's what it is,
is having a sense of belonging to something and somebody
and showing the youth that, hey, something is worth saving.
I'd like to see that for my kids and grandkids.
I've got great grandkids. (chuckles)
- Well, what we're finding now
is that many of the situations that we have left
are just multi-layered and very complex.
- People are still really cut off.
A lot of people don't have work.
And so continuing to support this area with food
is one of the foundations for rebuilding.
And so disaster relief organizations
funded a program to bring local farm food
directly to the Barnardsville community,
but that program on the state level was not continued.
So it was really a amazing grace for us
because this Travelers grant picked up
from where that left off keeping healthy,
fresh food coming to people that really need it the most.
- That they were like so willing to just deliver it to us,
was honestly a game changer for us. (laughing)
- Yeah, I appreciate you guys.
- It's just been so beautiful.
- [Resident] Thank you.
- Happy Thanksgiving to you.
- It's a huge blessing,
that is like really unheard of.
- God bless y'all.
- Getting the boxes is wonderful,
but it's way more than a that.
It's just the knowledge that somebody's coming to see you.
You get to talk to someone,
joke with them, love them, hug them.
It's comfort for the people.
They feel the joy. They feel happiness.
They feel hope.
- It means everything.
- We were all just praying,
praying that something would happen for Phillip.
I got a call about this opportunity
with Traveler's Insurance.
- It means everything.
It's the beginning of starting your life over.
You just don't rest unless you're at home
and my wife's excited about the home.
(uplifting bright music)
- We are greatly encouraged
that Travelers is rebuilding Phillip's home.
It's very satisfying when you look at a family
and they're provided for.
- We promise to take care of people
at their most difficult and challenging times.
And to be able to just have a very small hand
in helping people reclaim their lives is pretty special.
- The investment that Travelers has made in this community
is already paying off
and I think it'll pay off even more in the future.
- This place is amazing.
It's a wonderful place just to live life.
It's amazing the strength when we can all bond together.
- I see a community that has rallied
and Travelers has continued to help rebuild,
making sure that everyone's needs are met.
So it's really an incredible example of what humanity
can do in the face of disaster.
- I believe in this community,
I believe we can get back to normal.
(uplifting bright music fades)