A helping hand on the long journey home

Fuller Center Disaster ReBuilders offers comfort and stability to Helene victims

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
April 18, 2025

Michael Burgin, who escaped his Beacon Village home during Tropical Storm Helene, stands outside of his house, which is being rebuilt by the Fuller Center Disaster ReBuilders. Photo by Fred McCormick

Immediate survival was the prevailing instinct for hundreds of thousands of Western N.C. residents on the morning of Sept. 27, 2024, as Tropical Storm Helene forced people to brave deadly conditions and seek relative safety above the raging floodwaters. Yet, many of those who escaped the most tragic outcome were confronted with questions of long-term subsistence, which continue to loom large in the aftermath of the natural disaster.

For a growing number of displaced homeowners in Buncombe, McDowell and Yancey Counties, Fuller Center Disaster ReBuilders has offered desperately needed help on the long road back home.

Communities devasted by catastrophes are familiar to the nonprofit organization, which was formed by Bart Tucker in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The disaster assistance program later partnered with the Fuller Center for Housing, a faith-based and Christ-centered initiative started by Millard and Linda Fuller, co-founders of Habitat for Humanity.

The organization has built or repaired more than 200 homes around New Bern, where Hurricane Florence damaged or destroyed nearly 75,000 structures in 2018, and is also active in Kentucky, following a tornado outbreak that claimed the lives of 80 people in the state.

Volunteers from the Fuller Center arrived in the Swannanoa Valley days after Helene, according to local resident Nathan West, who met Aaron and Toni Karam Ratliff while organizing a supply distribution effort at Black Mountain Presbyterian Church.

“They introduced themselves and explained the work that Fuller Center does, and I responded by telling them we were in survival mode at that time, but that I would be happy to talk to them as soon as we made made sure everyone was safe and taken care of,” West said. “A lot of organizations came in around that time, but Aaron and Toni were the only ones who followed up after a couple of weeks.”

With a professional background in insurance, real estate and speculative homes and an expansive network in WNC, Fuller Center tapped West to direct their operation in the region.

“It’s a great organization,” he said. “Toni and Aaron were bringing volunteers here to muck houses and get the operation set up right after the storm, then they started looking for locals who could keep the rebuilding efforts going.”

There was no shortage of area residents in need of assistance, according to West.

“Obviously, Swannanoa was hit really hard and people there needed help as soon as possible,” he said.

Vivid reminder of the harrowing events that unfolded the morning storm are still visible around Beacon Village in Swannanoa, where the river overtook many of the mill homes in the lower section of the neighborhood along U.S. 70. While the cottages, which were originally constructed as housing for employees of the Beacon Manufacturing Co. before its closure in 2002, were largely outside of the 100-year floodplain, residents were confronted with a terrifying reality.

“We received an evacuation notification around 7:30 a.m.,” said Michael Burgin, who lives in one of six homes in the neighborhood currently being renovated by the Fuller Center. “We looked outside and the water was already high, so it didn’t seem possible for us to drive out.”

The family’s calls to emergency services were unsuccessful.

“At a certain point, the water was up to our waists and we needed to go into the attic,” he said. “The water started coming into the attic and we knew we were going to have to swim out.”

Burgin and his teenage son plunged into the water and paddled through their kitchen before breaking a window and emerging near the roof. A neighbor in a kayak retrieved an axe.

“We started cutting through the roof to get our pets, which were in attic, but we noticed fingers sticking through some lattice under the roof of a house across the street,” Burgin said. “Rob took the axe, cut the neighbors out of their attic, and brought it back. After that, we were able to rescue our pets.”

The ordeal on the roof lasted three hours, according to Burgin, but the family’s plight was only beginning. The home, which the Buncombe County native bought in 2019, was still standing when the water receded, but almost completely destroyed.

“Before we escaped, it didn’t really feel like we were going to make it out, so being alive felt like a really good situation,” Burgin said. “But, we knew we were going to need help with the house. We didn’t even know if it could be fixed.”

With rental assistance through FEMA, the family found temporary housing nearby, while a neighbor introduced Burgin to the Fuller Center. The organization, which received a $400,000 grant from the Black Mountain Presbyterian Church Hurricane Helene Relief Fund last February, has been rebuilding homes in Beacon Village since December. The efforts were paused after a nearby spring caused minor flooding in the neighborhood, but Burgin anticipates he will return to his home later this summer.

“The spring issue was a major setback, but the progress they’ve made since they restarted has been amazing,” he said. “They replaced a bunch of the floor joists, reinstalled the plumbing, electrical and HVAC and the siding is up on the exterior. It’s really coming together.”

The goal of the Fuller Center, according to West, is to return residents to fully rebuilt homes.

Julie Sabotin stands outside of her Bee Tree home, which was flooded during Tropical Storm Helene. The Swannanoa resident returned to her home in March, following extensive repairs by the Fuller Center Disaster ReBuilders. Photo by Fred McCormick

“We’re not working to get drywall up and just make it livable,” he said. “Our goal is to get people back to where they were, or even better than they were before the storm.”

The organization, he added, uses local contractors and a labor force of volunteers and other philanthropic groups.

“The Fuller Center has strong connections with other disaster relief organizations,” West said. “Since Jan. 1 we’ve had Weaverland Disaster Services, a Mennonite group, down here doing amazing work.”

The nonprofit, which expanded its operation to Yancey County earlier this year, is currently working on 26 homes in WNC, while 13 have been completed so far.

A small section of homes in Bee Tree Village, a neighborhood of around 50 households in the community from which it takes its name, represents three finished projects. Returning to the home she has lived in since 2019 did not seem likely in the immediate aftermath of the storm, according to Julia Sabotin.

“Around 6:30 a.m., one of my neighbors mentioned I might want to pack a bag and come up the road to their house,” she recalled. “I was worried water might come from the back of the house, because (Bee Tree Creek) is back there, but the water ended up coming from the front.”

As she attempted to leave her home for higher ground, Sabotin was confronted by a strong current of water that had quickly formed in front of her yard.

“I stood at my front door for about two hours,” she said. “I couldn’t cross the water because it was too dangerous, and I couldn’t get back into my house because there were feet of mud blocking my door.”

Before the flood receded, four feet of water covered the interior of her home.

“A neighbor crossed the current, sat with me, and then explained how we could get out,” Sabotin said. “We walked yard-to-yard and crossed a narrow section of the water, where another neighbor grabbed each of our hands and pulled us over.”

After witnessing the devastation, she knew significant work would be required before she could live in her home again. Sabotin estimates that around 30 homes in the neighborhood suffered damage in the flood.

“At first, I had no idea what to do with the house,” she said. “Fortunately, volunteers with Samaritan’s Purse came by and mucked the houses and took the walls down to the studs, but I was kind of stuck at that point.”

Sabotin received additional assistance from the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry, when the Black Mountain-based nonprofit organization provided her with temporary housing after the storm. She visited her home and neighbors daily.

“One of my neighbors told me about Fuller Center and the three of us reached out to them,” Sabotin said. “They were here two weeks after the storm, and that was the point I realized I may be able to save my house.”

While the scope of the damage and costs associated with rebuilding the home were prohibitive, the Swannanoa resident was comforted by her first meeting with the Fuller Center.

“Before I met with Toni and Aaron I had no idea what I was going to do,” Sabotin said. “I hadn’t even heard back from FEMA at that point, but after filling out the application with the Fuller Center, they were here working about two weeks later.”

Sabotin moved back into the home at the end of March.

“They did a wonderful blessing of the house, and that was an emotional day,” she said. “The final inspection was on a Wednesday and I planned on moving in that weekend. But, I told myself I needed to settle back in right away, so I was back the next night.”

Assisting area residents struggling in the aftermath of the tragedy requires long-term commitment, according to West, who calls his experiences since Helene “one of the darkest and most beautiful times” of his life.

“So many people around WNC suffered loss, whether it was the loss of a loved one or the loss of a home or business, and it seems like almost everyone is still dealing with the fallout from the storm,” he said. “Knowing the pain, experiencing some of it myself , and being able to translate some of that into helping as many people as we can has been like therapy for me.”

For survivors of Helene, the Fuller Center has been an indispensable lifeline in the aftermath of the storm.

“When I think about what could have happened without their help, it would have been either an expensive long-term process for me repair my home, or I would have needed to just sell it as it was,” Sabotin said. “Their help was so important to me.; I feel blessed.”