‘We are Matthew 25 for real’

Following Hurricane Helene, Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church cares for Asheville, North Carolina in a deeply committed way

by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

Amy Kim Kyremes-Parks explains the operation of the Disaster Relief Distribution Center at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Asheville, North Carolina. (Photo by Rich Copley)

ASHEVILLE, North Carolina — After showing visitors the massive food and disaster relief distribution program going on daily outside and inside Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Asheville, North Carolina,  Amy Kim Kyremes-Parks still marvels at what she sees every day. “We are Matthew 25 for real,” said the church’s Director of Formation for Children and Their Families.

Asked Tuesday how she completes the many duties of ministry done amidst the work of the church’s Disaster Response Team — whose efforts have taken over Grace Covenant’s sanctuary ever since Hurricane Helene struck on Sept. 26-27 — Grace Covenant’s pastor and head of staff, the Rev. Dr. Marcia Mount Shoop, said, “This is ministry. This is it.” Every Sunday, Grace Covenant worships in the sanctuary amid the goods the church is giving away.

Each weekday, Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church serves about 200 people impacted by Hurricane Helene. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Each day Monday through Friday, Grace Covenant serves about 200 area residents by providing not only needed goods but rent and utility assistance. Since the devastating storm, the church has used grants and donations to provide $230,000 to help keep residents in their homes and their utility bills paid. Mount Shoop expects November to be even more challenging, with relief efforts at Grace Covenant expected to keep going into 2025.

The sanctuary at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church has been completely given over to food, diapers, personal care items and other goods in demand a month after Hurricane Helene. (Photo by Rich Copley)

The aid program, run mostly by church volunteers and others who provide, among other services, translation, begins each weekday at noon. By 10 o’clock, the line stretches to the parking lot, Kyremes-Parks says. Pallets of bottled water are on hand, as are four portable toilets. “Since the storm, I know adrenaline is my friend,” she said, adding, “We have a great staff.” The associate pastor at Grace Covenant is the Rev. Luke Harkema.

“We get donations all day long,” Kyremes-Parks said. Each person fills out a shopping list outside, then gets their order filled inside the sanctuary. Those seeking housing or utility aid can make an appointment about five days in advance. Many people who have received assistance have later returned to help their fellow residents.

Flanked by the Rev. Edwin González-Castillo and the Rev. Jim Kirk of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, Jasmine Moore and the Rev. Marcia Mount Shoop share a light moment. (Photo by Rich Copley)

“We can give to people without a lot of questions,” Kyremes-Parks said. “If you say you need 40 rolls of paper towels, we believe you.”

It’s “concerning to us,” she said, that the state has not placed a moratorium on evictions or utility disconnects following the hurricane. A little more than a month after Helene, many relief centers are closing, she said.

The Rev. Dr. Marcia Mount Shoop is pastor and head of staff at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church. (Photo by Rich Copley)

“These are people who’ve fallen through the cracks, with no other place to go,” Mount Shoop said. She showed the visitors a large binder full of the receipts for rent assistance. About 200 applications remain for October before the team can turn to the November applications.

“We’ve applied for every grant we know,” Mount Shoop said. Donations are generally about $10,000 ahead of the assistance awarded, “but we’re on the razor’s edge,” she said.

A large notebook holds all the rental assistance payments Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church made during the month of October. (Photo by Rich Copley)

With all the ministry going on, the church’s session has decided to forgo the church’s annual stewardship season. “We’re trusting God,” said Mount Shoop, who’s served Grace Covenant since 2016. “We have spent almost every penny on rent and utility bills.”

Grace Covenant’s 750 or so members are eight years into their work dismantling white supremacy. “Our church people pivoted overnight” following Helene, Mount Shoop said. “They understand what’s happening — that Black and brown people are carrying the load,” especially people working in Asheville’s hospitality industry, which has been especially impacted by the storm.

Kyremes-Parks said that about four in five people seeking help are African American or Latino. Translation services are valued and in demand each day, Monday through Friday.

‘There is anxiety in the system’

Mount Shoop found her way to the church the Sunday after the storm, where she found people waiting for the church to open. “We opened the doors and just started giving things away,” she said. “People use our building every day,” including daycare and after-school programs, so “we’re a known entity.”

“There is anxiety in the system,” Kyremes-Parks said. “People don’t know if their jobs will return.”

Mount Shoop often works the telephone to ask landlords not to tack on late fees when tenants fall behind on the rent. In Asheville, “we are on the cliff of a housing crisis,” she said.

Tucked in a corner of the disaster response operation is Jasmine Moore, a social worker and digital navigator who helps people through the process of registering with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for benefits.

Jasmine Moore helps fill an order at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Moore can help the people showing up for services at Grace Covenant communicate with FEMA in either Spanish or English. On Tuesday, Moore helped six people with their FEMA applications. Three were new, one was pending and two were denied and being appealed.

About 70% of the volunteers are members and friends of Grace Covenant. “Our retirees have been amazing,” Kyremes-Parks said. A mother-and-daughter team from Tennessee came to volunteer and had been sleeping in their vehicle. A church member heard about their dedication and arranged for a hotel room to accommodate them.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is on a six-state solidarity visit in hurricane-affected presbyteries. Read Presbyterian News Service reports about the visit here, here, here, here, here, here and here.