One Year After Hurricane Helene, Asheville’s Veterans Find Strength Through Community and The Home Depot Foundation

When Hurricane Helene made landfall in Asheville, North Carolina, it left behind a trail of devastation few could have imagined. Rivers overflowed, homes and trucks were swept away, and entire neighborhoods were left without power or clean water.

Teresa, Home Depot Store Manager, recalls, "We never imagined with the amount of water that was around us that we wouldn't have any water to drink. No one expected it until it was too late." In the days following the storm, the need was urgent. Families required water, food, generators, and essential supplies. Within hours, The Home Depot Foundation activated its disaster response partner, Operation Blessing, which began rolling truck after truck into the Asheville area.

The Home Depot parking lot quickly transformed into a hub of relief-providing meals, cell phone charging stations, internet access, and orange Home Depot buckets filled with cleaning and hygiene kits. Thousands of residents received support, including 250 veterans exiting homelessness who called Asheville's Veterans Restoration Quarters (VRQ) their home.

The storm struck just shortly after The Home Depot Foundation and Team Depot volunteers had completed a renovation of the VRQ. From new flower beds to fresh benches, a dedicated prayer garden and armoires for every single room, the upgrades brought renewed life to the facility. Only a few days later, all of that work was washed away by the floods.

After being emergency evacuated overnight from the VRQ, the 250 veterans living there were reunited at a local hotel, which will remain their temporary home as the VRQ is being rebuilt. Since then, The Home Depot Foundation and hundreds of Team Depot volunteers have been hard at work helping to turn the temporary hotel housing into a comfortable, accessible home for the residents who have already endured so much.

As Asheville continues to rebuild a year after the floodwaters receded, it will take the combined, concerted efforts of volunteers and organizations to help the city's most vulnerable get back on their feet. That's why partnerships like the one between The Home Depot Foundation, Operation Blessing and Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry, which owns the VRQ, are critical during both immediate response and long-term recovery phases.

From disaster relief to long-term recovery, The Home Depot Foundation continues to invest in communities and our nation's heroes. For Asheville's veterans, that support means more than rebuilding facilities-it means rebuilding lives. As Teresa summed it up: "The Home Depot Foundation means hope. Hope for anybody who needs it."

The Home Depot Foundation Disaster Relief

So far in 2025, The Home Depot Foundation has committed nearly $9 million to support preparedness, response and long-term recovery for communities impacted by natural disasters. The Home Depot shows up for our communities, customers and associates from beginning to end of a natural disaster. Learn more about our disaster response work over the past 30 years.

Click here to learn more about how The Home Depot responds to natural disasters.