Samaritan’s Purse and the GenJ Student Response Team are on the ground helping with the real work of disaster recovery and cleanup efforts across the country. It’s a dirty, labor-intensive job but someone has to do it!
The North Carolina flooding from Hurricane Helene (October 2024) and the Los Angeles wildfires fueled by fierce Santa Ana winds (January 2025) are two recent devastating events that were declared federal disasters. Survivors of these tragedies have been grappling with stark realities such as lost homes, destroyed infrastructures, and communities in turmoil.
Robert Scheller, a professor of landscape ecology at North Carolina State University, noted several similarities between them. He said, “There are certain parallels as far as challenging terrain, homes built really close into the wildlife-urban interface both in Asheville and around Los Angeles and a lot of single-lane roads that can make evacuation difficult.”
One main difference is that while we were getting 24/7 coverage of the wildfires in Los Angeles, the poor people in the mountains of North Carolina got very little coverage and were seemingly forgotten. Relief is slowly giving way to recovery in the Asheville and Western North Carolina areas, but North Carolina isn’t out of the woods yet.
Hurricane Helene Response
A crew of about 50 homeschooling students and parent chaperones (photo above) showed up in Black Mountain, North Carolina, from November 13-17, 2024, to assist with Hurricane Helene relief efforts. They comprised Generation Joshua’s first ever Student Response Team.
HSLDA’s Generation Joshua is dedicated to providing teens with training and opportunities to make a difference in their communities. The team volunteered through Samaritan’s Purse, the organization led by Franklin Graham and headquartered in the heart of the devastation.
According to HSLDA, the relief effort is a logistical feat for Samaritan’s Purse, which at the time had more than 1,000 open work orders from homeowners waiting for help, and many more on a waitlist. By the time the Generation Joshua team arrived about seven weeks after Helene, the organization had facilitated more than 10,000 volunteers completing 130,000 work hours in the Asheville area alone.
For three days straight, enthusiastic homeschooled teens traveled to various homes in the Asheville area, ready to serve in whatever way was needed. Most of the work consisted of “cut and drag”—removing fallen trees on a homeowner’s property.
“It has been very eye-opening just to see the level of disaster which has stricken this area and this community,” said team member Lauren, 17, from Kentucky. “And I think it has really just opened my heart to the people here and to just everything we’ve seen, everything we’ve done and just how even a little impact can go so far. And maybe it’s just moving one log. But in the grand scheme of things, it really does make a difference.”
Generation Joshua Director Jeremiah Lorrig commented on the heart of these students: “I love seeing these young people step up and say, ‘Hey, I’m here.’ And I just saw them tackle a yard that was full of debris, branches and trees and everything, lying all over the ground. And they just jumped in, they picked it up, and they created a pile taller than I am. And it’s just incredible to see how much they can do with willing hearts and a few minutes of training.”
When the work at a given home was completed, the students gathered with the Samaritan’s Purse team lead to pray with the homeowner and present them with a Billy Graham Bible signed by each of the volunteers. Several students remarked on how meaningful the presentation was, including Mason, 17, from California, who said it was the highlight of his trip to be able to present one of the Bibles.
Samaritan’s Purse employee and Generation Joshua alum Peter Baergen helped organize the Student Response Team effort. “It’s amazing to see the volunteers that God sends out to help —the willing hearts, the folks who are willing to drop everything, drive across the country, or maybe just drive across the road, to come out to help their neighbor in time of need,” he said. “It’s a huge blessing and it’s an honor to be part of it.”
Jonathan, the local student volunteer who joined the student response team, is 19 and lives in Hendersonville, about 30 minutes south of Black Mountain. While he said it’s devastating to see people in his own neighborhood suffering, he added that he’s encouraged by the relief work.
“It helps to see everybody,” he said. “Students from all over, all over the country, no matter what their ages, in high school. Just coming and helping and working hard. Seeing the eyes on people’s faces as we’re done and their smiles. Just seeing how happy they are and grateful they are and getting to see this neighborhood.”
HSLDA Action Executive Director Joel Grewe, a former homeschooler himself, concurred with many students and parents present who voiced appreciation for the flexibility of homeschooling that enabled them to serve on the student response team.
“One of the things that’s really cool about homeschooling is that when necessary, it’s incredibly flexible,” he said. “And one of the things we have here is 50 homeschoolers from around the US and their parents who decided, you know what, for the next couple days we’re taking care of our community. And so you can put things on pause, jump on a plane, get in a truck or a van, and drive and come and serve the broader community.”
Several HSLDA employees also joined the effort, including Generation Joshua alum Ethan Harper, who works in IT. “I just came with an open mind,” he said. “But being in the middle of it is incredible… To anybody that’s considering looking at the Generation Joshua program or trying out the program I can’t encourage it enough—it was life-changing for me.”
Read the full story and watch a video recap here.
California Fire Response
Samaritan’s Purse has also deployed a disaster relief unit to California, where volunteers have already set out into the scarred remains of Altadena, California, which was devastated by the Eaton Fire. They are helping homeowners sort through the debris to retrieve personal property that may have tangible or sentimental value.
“We’ll help search through the ashes,” said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse. “That takes a team of people going through one part of the house looking through every square inch of ashes that are on the ground. “We’ve found coin collections, picture albums that have somehow survived, rings, a lot of jewelry. Being able to give back to a homeowner even a little thing like a ring that’s survived means so much to them.”
Samaritan’s Purse is currently scheduling volunteers through Friday, February 28, 2025, to assist homeowners affected by the Eaton Fire. Volunteers must be at least 14 years of age or older. Youth ages 14-15, must be accompanied by their parent/legal guardian and youth ages 16-17 must be accompanied by an adult chaperone unless the student response team is registered as a youth group. Click here for more details: https://www.spvolunteer.org/project-response/754
Once it is safe to do so and emergency management gives the go-ahead, Samaritan’s Purse will also begin sending volunteers to respond to the Palisades Fire, which destroyed large areas of Pacific Palisades, Topanga, and Malibu. If you’re interested in volunteering, sign up to be notified about opportunities once they become available: https://www.spvolunteer.org/project-response/752
