Hurricane Helene has hit many, and some are harder than others. The Brewsters lived on meager incomes because they dedicated their lives to Christian ministry. They lived with his parents with an RV on their property, and neither had flood insurance. We are trying to raise funds to help his family through these difficult times. Below is some information from Aaron with photos:

My family of six lives in a three-bedroom house in Brevard, North Carolina. My parents, my wife and I, and my daughter all sleep in the bedrooms, and our son’s room is a 36-foot RV parked on the side of our house. 

We received word that an unprecedented storm was approaching the area on Wednesday. By Thursday evening, I had only slept about three hours because I had to monitor the flooding and be ready to keep the three sump pumps going in case we lost power. For over 24 hours, we were pumping 100 gallons a minute from the storage space below our home. By Friday morning, we had more flooding than we had ever experienced in the five years we’ve lived here. 

However, later Friday morning, after already being far beyond the saturation point, Hurricane Helene made ground fall, and it was nearly a category five when it did. By Friday afternoon, our yard and road had disappeared, trees were falling in the 50mph winds, and the floodwaters quickly hit the house and my son’s room in the RV. I was under the house when our temporary dam broke, and I watched the water crash into the space, quickly submerging everything there. Thankfully, I made it out safely.

We crammed our cars as far up the driveway as possible, but my parents’ whole vehicle was eventually flooded, and the back end of our car and van were filled with water. The RV eventually was submerged to the steering wheel, and the entire 5-foot storage space under the house was filled from floor to ceiling.

By Friday evening, I sent my wife and daughter to be evacuated by boat with local authorities. They were taken to a local shelter because it seemed our house would be flooded by midnight. However, my father’s medical needs prevented him from being evacuated, so my mother and I stayed with him in case the worst happened. Thankfully, my son was in Washington, D.C., at the time, performing Pilgrim’s Progress at the Museum of the Bible.

By God’s grace, around 10 p.m. on Friday, the water was just inches from the front door when it started to recede! By 9:30 a.m. Saturday, I was able to wade through the water to the shelter and had a tearful reunion with my wife and daughter.

Unfortunately, the damage had already been done. Our entire HVAC system was flooded and torn from the underside of the house, we lost thousands of dollars of personal property (including food), the storage space will need to be professionally cleaned and sanitized to remove all the mud, my parent's car is inoperable, our other two vehicles will need water remediation, and my son’s room in the RV is likely unsalvageable because of the hazardous nature of flood residue. Since we do not have flood insurance, there is no hope that the insurance company will cover any repairs or replacements.

We praise the Lord for preserving our lives and keeping the bulk of the flood out of our main living area, but we also want to thank you for helping! My parents run a local mom-and-pop sewing workroom, and I lead a non-profit called Truth.Love.Family. Though the Lord has always provided for our needs, for the past five years, we have had some significant financial pressures, and we don’t know how we will get through this alone.

May the Lord bless you tenfold for your sacrificial gift!