An abundance of aid

Tough times don’t last, but tough teams do. Ardenwoods is grateful for the selfless team of individuals and organizations that came together to support our community post-Hurricane Helene. Thanks to these helping hands, Ardenwoods residents and staff remained comfortable and well cared for during and after the storms.

Baptists On Mission delivered an abundance of shelf-stable food to Ardenwoods when the kitchen was offline due to loss of running water. Based in Cary, North Carolina, Baptists on Mission is an auxiliary of the Baptist State Convention of NC and is made up of 19 different ministries, some being International Missions, Medical Missions, Men’s Ministry, National Missions, Prayer Support, Children’s Missions, and Sports/Recreation. Baptists on Mission has set up 14 recovery operation bases across Western North Carolina to aid in Hurricane Helene relief. Each base offers food, showers, laundry services, chainsaws, and home clean-up services.

“Our goal is to meet the physical and spiritual needs of those affected by Hurricane Helene. We want each person to feel the love of Jesus through each of our disaster relief volunteers and staff,” said Tom Beam, disaster response coordinator for Baptists on Mission.

ThriveMore, a senior living management corporation that purchased Ardenwoods in 2023 also offered incredible support, delivering food, water, and other supplies to Ardenwoods. Jennifer Bartscht, ThriveMore Vice President of Sales and Marketing, assisted from the company’s headquarters in Winston-Salem.

“For a horrible event, the bright side was seeing all the people step up that wanted to help, not just individuals, but organizations,” said Jennifer.

Jennifer helped organize water, linen, and generator fuel deliveries and communicated with several vendors regarding bringing other supplies to the campus. Reed Vanderslick, ThriveMore President and CEO, and Jessica McCollum, ThriveMore VP of Operations, travelled to Ardenwoods just days after the storm. At Ardenwoods, the two made sure to connect with residents one-on-one, ensuring they felt safe and heard.

Trash pick-up operations were disrupted after the storm, however, Blum Construction, which had been on-site renovating common areas for guests, was generous enough to donate large dumpsters for resident and staff use. These dumpsters were essential to keeping Ardenwoods clean and functioning as normal.

A special thank you to all of the organizations that gave their time and resources to ensure Ardenwoods residents were well taken care of!

• Biltmore Church
• Carolina Siteworks: provided generators
• Covenant Village
• Department of Public Safety: provided pallets of water
• Emergency Fuel Management
• LeadingAge NC
• Lighting Restoration of the Carolinas: provided generators, gas, dumpsters, tree removal
• Medline
• Mountain Area Healthcare Preparedness Coalition
• Skyland Fire Department: removed fallen trees
• US Foods
• Warden Enterprises: brought grills and food to cook
• Well-Spring Retirement Community