Greetings from Montreat! This is to give you an assessment of the situation here on a busy Thursday afternoon.
First, the Town of Montreat continues to make remarkable progress on the repair of roads and bridges that were compromised by water and treefall in last week’s storm. Their Public Works team has made a priority of restoring vehicular access, and as a result, most of Montreat’s residents have been able to evacuate safely to neighboring locations with power and water. Restoring power and water remain priorities here, too, but it is too early to predict how long that will take. Law enforcement continue to encourage residents to leave if they are able and to discourage all but the most essential travel to Montreat.
Second, I’m told that we have accounted for all members of our conference center staff, a great relief to those of us who have been isolated here and hearing stories of the devastation in other parts of the Swannanoa Valley. Some staff members, however, have suffered significant losses in property, and in at least one case, the loss of a family member to the flood waters. We are working to assure our staff of conference center support in their recovery and to connect them to the Board of Pensions and other resources.
Evaluation of the conference center’s buildings continues. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, we were encouraged by the apparent conditions we found. Closer inspections are revealing some issues along with the expected water damage. Experts are onsite and working with our maintenance staff to conduct a full review. Lake Susan, our parks, and grounds were hit hard, but the dam held throughout.
The conference center continues to collaborate with area agencies and churches to support the recovery in a variety of ways. We have become a repository for donated items of need and have made space available to Black Mountain Presbyterian Church. Provisioned for the time being in Montreat, we are transporting needed supplies through these partners to other impacted neighborhoods beyond the Gate. Further, we continue to host the group Cajun Navy 2016, a trained disaster recovery outfit that is performing essential tasks both in Montreat and around the Swannanoa Valley. Town staff is holding regular meetings for residents here at Assembly Inn, which has become an information hub for residents who remain in town. This morning, we hosted an initial meeting to connect local Presbyterian churches and organizations with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.
Development and communications team members have been working to post updates on our website for our varied constituencies. By Saturday afternoon, our development team had posted a link for gifts to support the recovery our website, kicking off what remains an ongoing, generous response. Meanwhile, hundreds of individuals, either directly or through congregations, have sent food, water, gasoline, and other supplies. Added to the extraordinary number of texts, emails, and calls sending prayers, support, and good wishes, the overall support has landed here and mattered in too many ways to recount here. We have been so grateful for all of it.
While our campus is currently closed, we are also organizing for reopening, reaching out to those with reservations in the coming weeks to open a dialogue on when we will be ready to host again. It’s too early to say with certainty when that day will come, but staff are being told to prioritize their readiness to return.
As we continually acknowledge the support of others, our staff members are also performing at a very high level under trying circumstances. I am very proud of the spirit with which they have stepped into new roles and responsibilities and operated independently where necessary while lacking the ability to communicate as we normally would.
Stay tuned for more updates and remember that we feel your presence here. More than ever, we are grateful for all those who love Montreat. God bless you all – more to come!
Best,
