George Real Estate Group Radio Broadcast

The Mountains Made Me: Matt Rogers' Journey Through Loss

• George Real Estate Group

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When devastating wildfires swept through English Heifer Cove last week, Matt Rogers lost his beloved "Cabin of Hope" just days after the community had regained access following Hurricane Helene. Despite this double disaster, Matt's unwavering spirit and vision shine through in this heartfelt conversation that reveals the true meaning of community resilience.

Matt shares the poignant story of how his property, which sits on the edge of Longridge with the Creek flowing below, was completely overrun by flames. The timing couldn't have been more cruel—the area had only recently become accessible after Hurricane Helene's destruction. Yet instead of bitterness, Matt expresses profound gratitude for the firefighters who battled the dangerous blaze, the neighbors who ensured everyone evacuated safely, and the community that has surrounded him with support.

What makes this story especially powerful is learning about Matt's vision for the property. The "Cabin of Hope" wasn't just a personal retreat—it was being developed into "Camp Hopewood," a place where children could experience the transformative power of nature that Matt himself found at Camp Windywood as a child. "Camp changed my life," he reflects, explaining how the mountains "made him a man." Even now, facing total loss, Matt's plans haven't changed. With support from Camp Blue Star and the community, he intends to build a pavilion where the house once stood and fulfill his dream of creating a space where children can connect with nature.

This conversation isn't just about disaster—it's about how we rise from it. As Matt eloquently puts it: "The greatest control that you'll ever have to learn is to let it go... when you are fighting against change, it is exhausting because change is the only constant thing in life." His invitation stands to anyone needing support: stop by Three Chopt restaurant for a hug, a listening ear, and perhaps the reminder we all sometimes need—that with faith and community, we can do hard things. Share this episode with someone who needs a reminder that even after devastating loss, hope and purpose can still flourish.

Speaker 1:

The George Real Estate Group radio broadcast is celebrating 10 years on WHKP. The George Real Estate Group is celebrating 10 years on the radio, live every Thursday morning at 10.05 on WHKP 107.7 FM and AM 1450 and streaming online at WHkpcom Each Friday morning at 845,. The George Real Estate Group presents the Hometown Hero Award to someone in our community who goes above and beyond to make our hometown a better place to live. Here's this week's Hometown Hero Show. It's 844, and it's time now for our George Real Estate Group Hometown Hero Salute. And we are just so excited this morning to welcome our friend Matt Rogers into the house. But first we talk with Noah about the real estate world. How is spring Spring's here?

Speaker 2:

Spring is here, but the market you know, I've been watching this, I mean I watched this for 20 years the market is the market, the interest rates are the interest rates, but we continue to see strong demand. I will give you some good news. January, february and March this year we've seen a 7% increase in the number of homes sold in Henderson County than we did last January, february and March sold in Henderson County than we did last January, february and March. So this is interesting, in spite of the economic environment, the interest rates.

Speaker 2:

But I mean the thing that we know here in Western North Carolina and specifically Henderson County, is just the incredible community that we live in, the quality of life, the amazing people. And then we know real estate happens around life. It could be a really positive reason why someone's buying or selling. It could be a challenging reason and we know life happens. Therefore real estate happens. But I mean the market is strong. I mean we're averaging about 125 single-family homes a month selling in Henderson County. The average price is still hovering around that $550 mark. I mean it is still low inventory and still consistent, literally the last two years, this consistent demand.

Speaker 1:

And that low inventory you talk about. That makes every listing exciting, and you've got some exciting open house this weekend.

Speaker 2:

Well, actually today from 11 to 1 in the very desirable Blue Ridge Villas. It's a 55-plus community. These homes, they go quick and literally hit the market yesterday. We have an open house today from 11 to 1, 29 Wintory Drive, hosted by the amazing Wendy Morris on our team. And so just I mean you could literally this morning go check out this home, 29 Wintory Drive, and we're in the market for $339,500. It's a great property, one level living. You know there's it's9,500. It's a great property, one-level living. It's two bedrooms but there's a third room that really could be used as a bedroom, so it could be functionally as a three-bedroom and a one-level living garage. I mean it's a great community. And so again, I want to share that with our listeners from 11 to 1. Today it's Orr's Camp. That's right, right around the corner. If you do stop in at the open house, tell.

Speaker 1:

Wendy, you heard it on the radio. Yeah, do that.

Speaker 2:

But we're so grateful to be here every Friday morning sponsoring the Hometown Hero series. You can give us a call at 828-393-0134. Find us online at realestatebygregcom. And I got to say we get calls each week from the radio and so I want to thank our listeners and thank our listeners that tell their friends to call us, and I mean we know radio works fantastic.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, noah. So much welcome matt rogers.

Speaker 3:

Good morning, matt good morning, randy, and uh, good morning my friend noah. Um, you know, just uh, I think you know, I and I are looking for a home in Hendersonville, regrettably.

Speaker 1:

Yes, you are, yes, you are.

Speaker 3:

But I mean, you know we have the property and I'm sure anyhow, it's good to be here. Well, it's good to have you here.

Speaker 1:

Let's update everybody right off the bat and make sure everybody's singing from the same songbook, as they say Exactly. And you and Rosie lost your, your home, the cabin of hope in saluda it's upright.

Speaker 3:

It's about 100 yards over the uh henderson county line in polk county.

Speaker 1:

Yes, the the wildfires, uh yeah, last week yeah, sunday afternoon it's not even been a week not.

Speaker 3:

Oh, wow, wow I'm not the only one. Um right off the bat that lost a home.

Speaker 1:

There were 11, I believe 11 homes lost and the English Heifer Cove was pretty hard yeah. There's prayers for lots of my neighbors.

Speaker 2:

Everybody Well gosh oh by the way you guys just got access from the hurricane.

Speaker 3:

Literally two weeks and uh, unfortunately I never got to sleep there because I kept, uh, you know, living in town and uh, but I we had a great potluck dinner to welcome back everyone to uh, the cove in the bridge and I I gave him a little song because I wrote it real quickly, but I don't know if you want to hear it boy. Of course, man I said uh, you know, I got to give credit already to denver john.

Speaker 3:

I said uh to all my hundred neighbors, said almost heaven, english heifer cove, blue ridge, mountains, big hungry river. Life is easier. It's easier today because now we have the bridge and now we get to play. Oh man, that's beautiful Matt.

Speaker 1:

Credit to John Denver on that one yeah, you do, yeah, you do. You do a great job. You sing sometimes in the big stadium too.

Speaker 3:

Well, you know, I always wanted to be a singer and my brothers would tell my mother to please stop encouraging me because I'll only continue. But I get to sing this year on Pete Rose Day, may the 15th, which is a big honor for me because it's again. I'm bringing a gentleman that loves the Reds he's like 85, and he's just the biggest fan. And I called the Reds yesterday and I said can a friend of mine come and throw out the first pitch? And he said yes, for you, yes. And then when I went upstairs and he looked at me and I said get your arm ready, jim, get that glove. And you know, to make somebody happy is one of the greatest things that any of us can do at any time, small or big.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's a lot to process, Matthew, and again, you and Rosie have been part of this community for so many years and you guys do make people happy every single day with your shop and your connecting with the community, and I know the community is here to surround you and I hope you feel supported and cared for through this. I mean, it's a lot to process.

Speaker 3:

You know, when you put your roots down here 40 years ago, and to me it actually started in 1968 at Camp Windywood when I was seven years old. Two great summers down there in Tuxedo. Anyhow, every day you know the outpouring, tuxedo, any of the yeah, every day you know the outpouring. That's what you know. The family comes and calls you and then the friends and that community support is strong. I mean the prayers, I feel it, I mean I'm very grateful and that's what I would love for my listeners, or your listeners, to hear.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'd love, yeah, I'd give them all a hug.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's kind of why, I wanted to have you come by today and well, let's talk about the, the cabin of hope, and that's what you named, uh, your beautiful place there, and and you took so many pictures of all of the things that you've done around the cabin of hope the flowers you've planted, the azaleas and the deck you built down. You took so many pictures and posted them on social media that there's a lot of us who felt a connection to the Cabin of Hope.

Speaker 3:

Well, you know this, last week I heard from people that said 25 years ago you brought us up there for dinner and you had, you know, we had. Another guy said you let me camp out on the land and go swimming. And you know, and it was, you know, a lovely place for lots of people. We had a lot of family reunions. And I'm glad for all of that because that's a memory, great memories. But you know, it's just nice to help people.

Speaker 2:

It is, I mean again your vision for that property was not about you. It was about giving back.

Speaker 3:

Camp Hopewood. You know, when I got in after the COVID I said, listen, let's go forward with this. And we built a beautiful amphitheater and we had a very updated dock and we were all geared. And thank goodness for social media in the respect that Judy Stroud, who's my insurance agent, she called me and she said, matthew, great idea, love it, nonprofit camp, but please don't bring the Boys and Girls Club up there yet, because you're covered for a homeowner's insurance, not a camp, and my enthusiasm was checked that day, so we didn't get insurance but we did have kids come up for the last two years. That I knew, and certainly my family and my grandchildren. But that's restarted because Camp Blue Star called me on Friday, a week after the fire, and said listen, you've got to do this and we'll help you and we'll make a donation.

Speaker 3:

And then I called a friend because I really don't know anything about GoFundMe and it didn't interest Rosie and I because I think everything's going to be fine. But if people would like to donate for the insurance and we're going to build where the house was. We're going to build a pavilion and we're going to have obviously we need water a bathroom. We've got the well. We we're going to build Camp Hopewood and it'll be better and we'll bring kids there because, uh, camp changed my life, oh yeah, yeah and.

Speaker 3:

I was a crying, snivelly, whiny little seven-year-old and the mountains made me a man Now. Now I'm still a bit of a a cry baby, but but you can never get over that. I mean, it's good to cry folks, it's healthy, okay.

Speaker 2:

Yes, it is. Let the stress go. Yeah, yeah, I know. When I saw you on Saturday at the shop, we wanted to make sure we talked about our firefighters. Oh boy.

Speaker 3:

Oh, yeah, yeah, because I mean your show when you invited me. The firefighters, they are the heroes. I mean it was great to hear that they did not get injured. And a very good friend who worked for me years ago is a firefighter, phil Carlin, and he brought me a flag from outside the cabin. The Cincinnati Reds flag got wrapped around a pole and survived. So you know, I immediately I mean the firefighters were safe and it was a dangerous fire. I mean they explained to me about their effort and I told a crowd at the Biltmore Baptist Church the concerns. But I said I praise you because it's truly, I mean it's a dangerous job.

Speaker 3:

And I also know my neighbors, you know, were evacuated and Mike Marsteller was a retired sheriff deputy and he made sure every home was clear, all the animals were out and he was the last one out, just like a captain leaves the ship and had to pull somebody Andrew Reed to safety because he wanted to save a fire, and I'm glad I wasn't there because I might have had a garden hose, thinking that I could be the almighty and stop these flames.

Speaker 1:

Your property, the place where the Cabin of Hope was, was just overrun by fire.

Speaker 3:

It's on the tip of Longridge Edge and the Popolian Creek is down below. You can hear it right there and you know surrounded by the game lands and I can see when I went out that the fire took from all the trees down from Helene that was like the biggest fuel. Exactly and it just got. It was a beast. And the commander said let's get on out. You know before Because, yeah, it went quickly and unfortunately the fire didn't stop there. It went over to the other side of Lake Ann and took some homes.

Speaker 1:

Carol, you know.

Speaker 3:

Carol Russell lost her home and she's in our prayers. She's a lady that I mean After Helene. And we're getting out of our homes and we're realizing we've got to cut trees and all of us are out there with our chainsaws and doing work and she's raking leaves behind us and giving us lemonade and helping.

Speaker 3:

And I want to tell you that when you have something bad happen and somebody lifts you up with, whatever they do, the smallest act of kindness, I will never forget that, and that's what you do. You go of kindness. I will never forget that, and that's what you do. You go. Oh, I'm not doing much. I mean, I certainly wasn't doing much with my little chainsaw, but I kept saying to myself please, let's not cut off your arm with any danger.

Speaker 1:

We have some wonderful people up there that are really they are mountain men and you have a lot of wonderful people who patronize your restaurant well, three chop tell us about the restaurant and how that family has responded to you um first of all, let's you know there might be a listener out there.

Speaker 3:

There should be. I'd love them to know about jim young. I did not start it. Jim and sue and and joe 1981, put 3 Chop on the map with a great idea and when he wanted to become a cameraman at WLOS I saw it was for sale. We agreed I kept everything on the menu, and then I of course the free popcorn, and then I said I'll add my family names to it. It's a big menu now, but please remember Jim, I heard he passed away last year at a tender age.

Speaker 3:

So you know what a terrific guy, a guy that came by during COVID and says you know, do you need anything? Do you need some money? Matt, are you okay? Is this restaurant going to survive? I mean, if you live in a community like ours, you know that you are loved and it doesn't matter what day it is when you can get to a place and open it up and say I'm here and let's see what I can do to help the community, because they help me, they help make my dream come true, because, as best as I can see, I'm not going to make any money making a song or singing You're going to have a lot of fun.

Speaker 3:

Well, indeed, three Chopped is located at 103 3rd Avenue East. Do I have just a second?

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. We've got about two minutes left, okay.

Speaker 3:

Exactly, have just a second.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, we've got about two minutes left.

Speaker 3:

Okay, Exactly, I want people to know that you know the greatest control that you'll ever have to learn is to let it go. I mean, I know that that sounds backwards and, believe me, I didn't write this. I'm looking at this because I just saw this this morning and you know it's so. True is that when you are fighting against change, it is exhausting because change is the only constant thing in life and it really hurts to look back, and I cried a lot. This again this morning.

Speaker 3:

But then you know you dust yourself off and I want to be an inspiration to people to say that you know, from perspective, when you have a loved one die, it's tough. So it's to me hang in there and if you need a hug and you need some inspiration, come by Three Chop and we'll sit down and I'll listen to you, because we can all get through anything together. And, believe me, is with us. My faith in god is number one.

Speaker 1:

Rock solid love you, matt, rogers and uh, we just thank you so much for coming by to visit with us today, obviously a little bit of an emotional time, but, uh, we wanted to make sure that everybody heard from matt and rosie and make sure you're okay and to go by 3 Chop and get a hug and a Reuben. Thank you, noah. Thank you so much for bringing us the Hometown Hero Show. You're here every Friday. We've got lots of folks lined up to talk with and talk to and keep those nominations coming in. Yeah, we've had a resurgence here lately of recognition of those hometown heroes and they do need to be recognized, matt. Thank you so much, noah. Thank you too. Join us next Friday for our George Real Estate Group Hometown Hero Series Life has a way of throwing us into deep waters when we least expect it.

Speaker 2:

Dr robin hanley defoe knows this firsthand. One winter day, her car skidded on ice and plunged into a freezing river. Trapped in sinking darkness, she had seconds to act. But instead of panicking, she reminded herself I can do hard things. She stayed calm, found a way out and survived. At the George Real Estate Group, we know that buying or selling a home can feel like that moment Overwhelming, uncertain, maybe even a little scary. But here's the thing you can do hard things and you don't have to do them alone. With decades of experience, we're here to guide you every step of the way, turning challenges into opportunities. So if you're thinking about making a move, let's do it together. Call the George Real Estate Group today, because when it comes to your future, you're stronger than you think.

Speaker 1:

The George Real Estate Group is located in Flat Rock, north Carolina, near Hendersonville in Henderson County. You can find them online at realestatebygregcom. The George Real Estate Group can be reached at 828-393-0134 or stop by their office at 2720 Greenville Highway, flat Rock, north Carolina. Greenville Highway, flat Rock, north Carolina. Tune in live each week on Thursdays at 10.05 am on WHKP 107.7 FM and 14.50 am, or stream online at whkpcom or download these podcasts wherever you get your podcasts. The George Real Estate Group brings you the WHKP Hometown Hero Series every Friday morning at 8.45.