Hurricane Helene’s Impact on Brooks-Howell Home and National Mission Institutions

For Immediate Release

Hurricane Helene has devastated parts of the southeastern United States, from Florida up to Virginia, bringing catastrophic flooding and destruction. As United Women in Faith’s national staff establishes contact with our staff at Brooks-Howell Home (BHH) in Asheville, North Carolina, and our partners at the National Mission Institutions (NMIs) in affected areas, we ask for your continued prayers. One of the most impacted areas is Asheville, North Carolina, where one-third of the deaths from this hurricane occurred and where countless persons are still missing or suffering from lack of water, food, and supplies.

Brooks-Howell Home

Asheville is home to Brooks-Howell Home (BHH Project #0731100), a continuing care retirement home located on a 10-acre site near downtown Asheville. It is a not-for-profit ministry owned by United Women in Faith. This community consists of United Women in Faith and Global Ministries’ retired missionaries and deaconesses who have served The United Methodist Church as well as retirees from the Asheville and North Carolina area at large. Through the grace of God, all BHH residents and employees are safe. Fallen trees have caused some property damage. Electricity, water, and communication capability have been severely compromised. Supplies, food, and staffing are at low levels.

National Mission Institutions

Although our NMIs have reported little damage to their property, the surrounding communities have been devastated. Cathy Stone, executive director of Cornerstone Family Ministries in Tampa, Florida, asks for prayer:

Please pray for the Tampa Bay Area and other areas devastated even more than we were by the storm. While we are grateful that there was not more loss of life, many have lost their homes (if not permanently, for many months until they can be rebuilt) and many more have lost all of their belongings. Many are without work as businesses, especially on our beaches, were destroyed.

The following NMIs are in communities affected by the hurricane, but thankfully did not sustain significant damage:

Bethlehem Center, Chattanooga, TN (#N781871)
Bethlehem Center, Spartanburg, SC (#N74109)
Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA (#N711154)
Cornerstone Family Ministries, Tampa, FL (#N751202)
Henderson Settlement, Frakes, KY (#N773365)
Killingsworth, Columbia, SC (#741460)
Murphy-Harpst Children’s Center, Cedartown, GA (#N711265)
New Bethlehem Community Center, Augusta, GA (#N711079)
Open Door Community House, Columbus, GA (#N712620)
Red Bird Mission, Beverly, KY (#N773726)
Spartanburg Methodist College, Spartanburg, SC (#N741451)
Vashti Center, Thomasville, GA (#N712885)
Wesley House Community Center, Knoxville, TN (#N781912)

Prayers and Support

We ask you for your continued prayers for the people in the affected areas, especially the first responders and agencies managing the damage. If you would like to financially support BHH or our partners in the affected communities, you are welcome to do so online, through your local United Women in Faith treasurer, or via check to our national office. Gifts to BHH can be made at uwfaith.org/?form=BrooksHowell. Gifts to an affected NMI can be made at uwfaith.org/?form=NMI. Please use the project numbers when giving through your local treasurer or when sending a check to the national office address below:

United Women in Faith
Attention: Development
777 United Nations Plaza, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10017