The Appalachian Church Response to Hurricane Helene; Where is the Response to the Storm of Addiction?
Andrea Clements, PhD, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, MDiv, Uplift Appalachia, Johnson City, TN and Tanner Clements, Uplift Appalachia, Johnson City, TN
Hurricane Helene left destruction across Appalachia with a significant death toll and astronomical property costs. The church immediately mobilized to meet needs, going into hard-to-reach places to reduce suffering and bring hope to friends and strangers, people in the “hollers of Appalachia,” truly people at the margins. Over the past decade, there has been another humanitarian aid crisis that continues even as the threat of Helene has subsided. It is the addiction crisis; however, the church has been very slow to mobilize to go into hard-to-reach places to reduce suffering for these others at the margins who have been with us for years.
Uplift Appalachia has been attempting to equip and mobilize churches across Central Appalachia to be a workforce to reduce addiction since 2019, with very slow progress being made. The response to Hurricane Helene has given us hope that the church can effectively mobilize, but we are interested in the factors that explain the differences in motivation and speed between responding to the flood and responding to addiction. Sengupta and Joshi (2024) elaborate on the importance of intrinsic motivation in volunteers, but what contributes to that intrinsic motivation? Carraway (2024) found that a religious calling is the most common motivation for volunteers working with incarcerated populations in a recent study. Trujillo et al. (2024) also note that people are more likely to volunteer as part of a group, so the simultaneity of the response may have fueled volunteer response. These are helpful on a general level, but what explains the difference in church mobilization across these two areas of need?
One noteworthy difference is that the threat from the flood is over, so the cleanup is tangible and time limited. News coverage was extensive, and stories appeared on every media platform in the days and weeks after the flood. The flood also came quickly and its effects were completely beyond the control of the people affected. Perhaps the time-limited nature of the commitment makes flood response more palatable. Perhaps addressing addiction is a problem of “out of sight, out of mind,” and increased media coverage would increase motivation. Perhaps people are still being blamed for their life choices in addiction, so they seem less worthy of help. Perhaps people find it easier to deal with things (drywall, shovels) than people (sin, poor decisions).
We will present a case study from one rural, Central Appalachian town comparing efforts to equip and mobilize a congregation to address addiction that was underway and that same church’s mobilization when the area was affected by flooding from Hurricane Helene. Drug-related deaths and flood-related deaths are used as a point of comparison. However, there are many other parallels. Flood victims and people struggling with substances have many similar issues (housing, dealing with trauma, financial burdens, isolation), but drug-related deaths are most consistently tracked. As a point of comparison in the region of interest, deaths are compared in the most flood-affected county, Buncombe County, NC, which had 42 flood related deaths and 125 drug-related deaths and the case study county, Carter County, TN, which had no flood-related deaths and 34 drug-related deaths.
Uplift Appalachia has been attempting to equip and mobilize churches across Central Appalachia to be a workforce to reduce addiction since 2019, with very slow progress being made. The response to Hurricane Helene has given us hope that the church can effectively mobilize, but we are interested in the factors that explain the differences in motivation and speed between responding to the flood and responding to addiction. Sengupta and Joshi (2024) elaborate on the importance of intrinsic motivation in volunteers, but what contributes to that intrinsic motivation? Carraway (2024) found that a religious calling is the most common motivation for volunteers working with incarcerated populations in a recent study. Trujillo et al. (2024) also note that people are more likely to volunteer as part of a group, so the simultaneity of the response may have fueled volunteer response. These are helpful on a general level, but what explains the difference in church mobilization across these two areas of need?
One noteworthy difference is that the threat from the flood is over, so the cleanup is tangible and time limited. News coverage was extensive, and stories appeared on every media platform in the days and weeks after the flood. The flood also came quickly and its effects were completely beyond the control of the people affected. Perhaps the time-limited nature of the commitment makes flood response more palatable. Perhaps addressing addiction is a problem of “out of sight, out of mind,” and increased media coverage would increase motivation. Perhaps people are still being blamed for their life choices in addiction, so they seem less worthy of help. Perhaps people find it easier to deal with things (drywall, shovels) than people (sin, poor decisions).
We will present a case study from one rural, Central Appalachian town comparing efforts to equip and mobilize a congregation to address addiction that was underway and that same church’s mobilization when the area was affected by flooding from Hurricane Helene. Drug-related deaths and flood-related deaths are used as a point of comparison. However, there are many other parallels. Flood victims and people struggling with substances have many similar issues (housing, dealing with trauma, financial burdens, isolation), but drug-related deaths are most consistently tracked. As a point of comparison in the region of interest, deaths are compared in the most flood-affected county, Buncombe County, NC, which had 42 flood related deaths and 125 drug-related deaths and the case study county, Carter County, TN, which had no flood-related deaths and 34 drug-related deaths.