George Real Estate Group Radio Broadcast

From Hurricane Helene To Hope: A Volunteer’s Road

• George Real Estate Group

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A simple flight home turned into a mission. When Hurricane Helene tore through the Gorge and border towns, our guest, volunteer organizer Shauna Toller, landed to a flood of messages and a community in need. What started with off-road friends checking on one another became a lifeline: scouting safe routes, organizing supply runs, sleeping in a Jeep, and building a rhythm that kept first responders supplied when access was cut and phones were dark.

We walk through the pivotal moments: setting up at Yancey County’s volunteer fire department, creating medical triage packs that freed nurses to focus on care, and transforming a damaged storefront in Bat Cave into a full-service relief hub with showers, staging, and a constantly updating map of who needed what. You’ll hear how a background in veterinary triage translated to human logistics, and why detailed checklists, morning briefings, and simple tools kept the effort moving when roads vanished and the river rose.

As headlines faded, the work shifted. Today the bottleneck isn’t willpower—it’s skilled trades. We talk framing, electrical, and plumbing that must meet code, guided by a licensed GC so families can return to safe, durable homes. Along the way, you’ll meet the true power of community-led recovery: neighbors who received help returning as volunteers, turning a pop-up camp into a locally owned, resilient network. If you have a trade, a truck, or time to coordinate, there’s a place for you in Bat Cave and throughout the Gorge.

If this story moves you, subscribe, share the episode with a friend who can lend a hand, and leave a review to help more people find these hometown heroes. Your skill—or your signal boost—might be the link someone is waiting for.

SPEAKER_00:

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 1005 on WHKP 107.7 FM and AM 1450, and streaming online at WHKP.com. 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 8 45, and time now for our George Real Estate Group. Hometown Heroes salute. And it is always good to get around the microphones on Friday morning and uh tell some stories about real estate and about uh recovery from Helene that goes on. Shauna Toller is here this morning, and we're gonna learn more about uh recovery efforts in the Gorge.

SPEAKER_01:

And but first, happy holidays, no happy holidays and Merry Christmas. I mean, we're just uh less than two weeks away from Christmas. I know, I know.

SPEAKER_00:

And you've got young kids in the house, I know they're amped up.

SPEAKER_01:

They're counting down for sure. I think more importantly, they're counting down down till school's out. Today, right? Well, for the year-round school program, and then the traditional, I think, is out is out in uh next week.

SPEAKER_00:

Next week, yeah. Okay. Well, as some of those kids are getting out of school over the year today. Today, that's right.

SPEAKER_01:

There's some in Henderson County that get out today. Yeah. And I know they're thrilled about that. But um, we're we're so grateful to be here sponsoring the Hometown Hero series. We love uh you know, hearing and sharing amazing stories every Friday morning and honoring men and women, serving this community, and it's it's a privilege. And and the amazing thing is we get to we love serving the community every single day with helping our clients with their real estate needs. It could be their personal home, it could be their their family land that they've inherited or your real estate investments, I mean, whatever it might be. And there's always a story. We love hearing our clients' stories about how maybe they're their third and fourth generation here, maybe they they discovered this area after one of the festivals and people relocate here. I mean, we hear so many reasons and stories about how their family uh first got here, discovered Hendersonville, and and it's an honor to serve the community through real estate.

SPEAKER_00:

You uh you you hear those stories and and uh that's why such uh a natural marriage here with uh you sponsoring the Hometown Hero series, uh, because you're on the front line of a lot of seeing a lot of people come here that that give back to our community.

SPEAKER_01:

We really do, and this is a contagious area for volunteering. We have so many people that love to they move here, they re and whether they're moving here retired or they end up retiring here and and they want to stay involved and get involved and they and they give back to the community. So the volunteering community is incredible. The generosity and the nonprofits that are here in this area, it's a it's a very uh generous uh community.

SPEAKER_00:

It really is, and uh at no other time, like after the Hurricane Helene, did that uh factor raise its head. We saw so much community involvement and we continue to see it. So the natural transition is now to talk and welcome Shauna Toller. Good morning, Shauna.

SPEAKER_02:

Morning, how y'all doing?

SPEAKER_00:

We're doing great. How are you?

SPEAKER_02:

Good, great, waking up.

SPEAKER_00:

Great way to wake up.

SPEAKER_02:

I haven't had my coffee yet. Had some tea, thank you, Lynn.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh yeah, try that one, Noah. Yeah. Uh the uh you drove here from uh Tennessee.

SPEAKER_02:

Tennessee, yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Scoot up a little closer to that mic there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

That better.

SPEAKER_00:

It's better, yeah. And uh so you've been on the road this morning. What part of Tennessee?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh right now we're in we just moved to Robbins. Right. But during the whole uh hurricane, that whole stint, we're over in Townsend, Tennessee for that year. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00:

We we just moved, so so well tell tell us about how your home fared during the storm.

SPEAKER_02:

Over in uh Townsend, nothing really much happened.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Um it was the border, the border cities, Tennessee, North Carolina border cities that really got hit hard. A lot of farm country got hit and just ruined. Um we were actually on vacation. We were flying that day when Helene hit, and we were coming in from Santa Fe. Family birthday out there in Santa Fe area, and we just landed, saw all these, you know, the TV's monitors are on with just storm damage and raging water and all. And that's the first time I actually got a ping on my phone saying, Hey, are you guys okay out there? And I hear so-and-so, you know, may need some help. We can't get a hold of her. We're we're in the off-roading community. So we have people that we off-road with all over the place. And it's a very strong community, so we check on each other a lot. And those are the first people that let us know what was actually going on. And so the next day, I was making phone calls, we were all kind of coordinating, and made our way out to our friends, and it just took off from there. We had running supplies, and eventually it took us up to Yancey County Volunteer Fire Department for a few weeks, helping them out.

SPEAKER_00:

Yancey County was hit real hard. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, we were up there. It was it was just me, my husband couldn't make that stint. So I was up there sleeping in my Jeep, along with the other campers. The whole volunteers are all camping out in the back back area. The chief allowed that so he could help out with whatever recovery relief, um, supply runs, you name it, search rescue, it was just everything, all hands on deck. Until um uh a couple guys next to me that were camping, Dan Lewis and uh Logan Campbell, they found out about Batcave and were trying to get clear roads and get into there.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

And they let me know what was going on. And I said, you know, if you can, we could use ya, but let's see if it's safe first. And then a couple days later, made the call and they said, Yep, it's okay, it's safe here to go, or you to help set up another supply camp. Mark and Lynn, Staten, you had them on here.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep, their little shop, and we just ended up setting up shop over there, and I've been helping out them with them ever since.

SPEAKER_01:

You're still helping out.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, still helping out, yep.

SPEAKER_01:

Did you have any background in disaster relief or any of these experiences?

SPEAKER_02:

Not boots on the ground per se. I worked in veterinary medicine for a while as a veterinary nurse, and we would um coordinate relief efforts in regards to pet housing. A natural disaster would hit and we would get flooded with people needing housing for their pets because they would have to be housed. You know, the families themselves had to be housed in a church or something, they couldn't bring their pets. So we had to do like fire season, all the different uh natural disaster seasons. We'd we were prepared for emergencies and all that, even for people, because our little hospital was also uh a triage area for people. And because we're close enough to uh a hospital, like a halfway area. So I had experience in that respect, just uh triaging, getting supplies to where they need to go, ordering supplies, making sure we had enough food, everything on hand for these situations, because they happen quite frequently. And so it just kind of fit right in with especially with medical. That's actually where I helped out the most over in Yancey County. The nurses there, since I can't work on people, I can work on animals, I was able to free them up by um organizing all their supplies, helping them with making supplies and triage packs for the medics and the first responders going out into the field. If I couldn't get supplies out to them, I made sure we had packs ready for them to go first thing in the morning. So it's just a constant. I mean, it was uh we're up early in the morning with a morning report and what we're gonna do till like eight o'clock at night. They fed us, back to the Jeep to sleep, up in the morning again, and whatever odd errands they needed me to run, like extra supplies needed to go out for the day. If it wasn't scheduled, I could grab the stuff and and go wherever they needed me to go. So it was just it was like I said, I was looking at the messages to kind of recall what happened because it was such a blur.

SPEAKER_00:

It is, it sounds like it was.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, you uh you wound up there at Mark and Lynn's, and I and I think uh I recall Mark saying that one of the uh volunteer organizations that came first looked at their place and said you look like a great place for one of the shower trailers.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's how it kind of started there with the Batcave uh disaster relief group.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, they have the they run the or they lease out their building for the post office.

SPEAKER_00:

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02:

And that part was saved, and her hip and uniques antique store was just totally wiped out. So it left, unfortunately, a nice spot for just a uh a camp, uh a supply camp. Okay. It was central to that specific area in Bat Cave because if you go down the gorge, uh certain areas are cut off from each other. Like Middle Fork, we couldn't get into there for a while. Um the fire department had their little section up there that they could help, and then our area, the bridge, and up to Chimney Rock, we kind of helped those people out. And then after a while we just helped everybody that we could. Um but it was just kind of slow and going because like I said, with the gorge split up the way it is, with the way the landslides came through, the tornado, the water, it really isolated a lot of little pockets and haulers in the in the gorge that are just a stone's throw away, you couldn't get to them without you know, heavy machinery or walking through a crick or mudslides and stuff. It was just it was insane. It was just like a war zone. Without the war, it was just like it got bombed.

SPEAKER_01:

It's a lot to comprehend. Yeah, and it's and pitchers don't even do it justice. Um I mean all volunteering is incredible and your initial uh your initial um catalyst was because of the community with within the four by four community. But what you've been doing is you you didn't just stop. You it you've gone above and beyond and you continue to serve the community. What I mean what has inspired you to can just uh to I mean the level that you're giving back is is remarkable and you're still giving and I'm sure it's the I can imagine, but you you were in Yancy County and then now you're then you came to Batcave. You continue to serve. What what's that drive? And what what's the what has inspired you to go to that that level?

SPEAKER_02:

People need help. I know I could fill whatever gaps they needed in order to help others reach their you know reach their full potential in their volunteering efforts. Because I mean I we do a lot of backpacking, off-roading, camping, all that stuff. I can help chop down trees. We've done I've assisted with search and rescue training back in the day because my husband was a first responder for a long time, so I'm familiar. So he did a lot of that kind of stuff. And I could either do that or fill the gap with uh making sure camp is running, the supplies are coming in. They can go off because they're not familiar with that, they can go off and do what they do best, and I can fill these other gaps with what I I can do. Um and it just it was needed everywhere. The level of destruction just w was so widespread. And I could the efforts are are still continuing probably for another several years or so because of the damage, and especially the little haulers. They didn't get a lot of funding because the bigger cities needed more infrastructure repair and whatnot. So the little haulers they kind of got left behind, and it it's just a level of help that they need and continue to need, it was just how could I stop? I mean, I spend at least a week a month at Batcave helping out wherever I can, boots on the ground. When I'm not there, I help out with their website, all their socials, or coordinating, logistics, all that kind of stuff, whatever's needed. So I'm always in contact with Mark and Lynn. They're like a second family now. I mean, I stay at their place, and whenever I come down and we make sure we got our game plan going, and whatever the help they need, I we try and coordinate efforts. And it's just it's just never stopped. I mean, the level, like I said, the level of need is just it was incredible. So I couldn't really go home. My husband, very supportive. He gets to work from abroad. He said, I got this, go do your thing. And at the time I wasn't working, so I had all the time. I couldn't give money, but I could give time and my exp expertise. So just if you if people need help, you you can't stop. And then you get to learn these people or know these people, and you become exactly the relationships you create. And it's nice to see you look back and you see where you've met them, where they're at, the conversations you've had, and then I get to keep going back and helping and helping and helping, and you just see the gradual progression of them finally making it and and succeeding. And then they come in turn and they help out with the volunteer relief at Batcave. So it's now more local run and and um assisted than outside volunteers now, which is great because we wanted to make a lot of people. Empower the community, yeah. Exactly. Locally, I don't think that's a word, but we like to have local volunteers.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and again, the you guys uh people from outside were just a shot in the arm that just made it possible to to to do this. To survive to survive, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it was it was hard getting into a lot of areas. Yeah. So it took everybody that that could make it to actually get in and help. Because the first responders, police departments, fire departments, they're all overwhelmed. And a lot of times they couldn't even get into the area. So it was just they needed everybody they can get hold of just to help out. Right. I mean, it was just so it's just a huge area to help and they couldn't do it all themselves.

SPEAKER_01:

I I know we don't have that much time left, but it what what else is needed what's needed now and how can people still volunteer and give?

SPEAKER_02:

Um contact local organizations that are still here um and see just just get a hold of them and see what they need because the needs are constantly changing. Like right now with back here disaster relief, I know we're doing a lot of uh home rebuilds. So it's a lot of we need a lot of skilled labor, not just whoever can make it. We need actual skilled tradesmen to come out because it has to be it has to follow code, has to you know pass the inspections. Um so Mark being licensed general contractor, he's able to get these people in and do the work correctly. And so we're always looking for people to fill those gaps like the framing, um, electrical plumbing, you name it, just like building uh uh everyday hell everyday homes.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, that's the Bad Cave Disaster Relief Group, and you can find them on uh Facebook and and uh all around the the social medias and they'll get right back to you, Mark and Lynn and Lynn, especially. Yep. She's uh she's just a lifesaver and she couldn't say enough good things about you.

SPEAKER_02:

So they're incredible people too. Yeah, they if you get to talk to them, they're just uh incredible.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, there's a there's a whole bunch of incredible people right down there. They sure are. We we love mining in that uh that gold mine down there. We really do. Noah, we've gotta go. Uh Shauna, we've got a certificate for you that says thank you. It's it's all we can do, but we do thank you from the bottom of our hearts for everything that you do. And uh and just thank you for coming over to visit with us this morning.

SPEAKER_02:

We thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00:

We've got to run, Noah got about 10 seconds. Remind us where you are.

SPEAKER_01:

Find us online at realestatebygreg.com or call us at 828-393-0134.

SPEAKER_00:

Join us next week for Hometown Heroes. The George Real Estate Group is located in Flat Rock, North Carolina, near Hendersonville in Henderson County. You can find them online at realestatebygreg.com. The George Real Estate Group can be reached at 828-3930134, or stop by their office at 2720 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, North Carolina. Tune in live each week on Thursdays at 1005 AM on WHKP 107.7 FM and 1450 AM, or stream online at WHKP.com. 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.

SPEAKER_01:

You've built a lifetime of strength, wisdom, and independence. And here's the best part: you still have it. Every decision, every step, every next chapter is yours to choose. Selling your home isn't about letting go, it's about opening the door to more freedom, more time for what you love, more energy for the people and passions that matter most. At the George Real Estate Group, we believe independence isn't behind you. It's right here, right now. Our team goes beyond buying and selling. We're here to help you protect your wealth, preserve your legacy, and make sure Uncle Sam doesn't become your biggest benefactor. We'll guide you every step of the way towards your next chapter, your next opportunity, and your freedom on your terms. Call us at 828 393 0134. Find us online at realestatebygreg.com.