HARRISONBURG, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – PBS icon Mr. Rogers once said, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

That’s the goal of Mennonite Disaster Service, whose first crew arrived in North Carolina on Monday, September 30, just days after Hurricane Helene swept through. Many of the 40 trillion gallons of rain the storm produced poured onto western North Carolina, where Mennonite Disaster Service has set up its Fairview, NC, on-site headquarters.

The crew includes five residents of the Harrisonburg area, including Kevin King, executive director of Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS).

“I’ve been doing this for 21 years,” says King, “and this takes me back to Hurricane Katrina. I think that sums it up pretty well.”

The crews are comprised of Mennonites, Amish, and other Anabaptist groups who join weekly rotating teams in the wake of disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes. Their primary focus is on the construction of new homes, but they take part in cleanups, as well, which is the top priority at this stage of the game, King says.

“The teams came with skid steer loaders with grapplers, which are the big forks in the front, and lots of chain saws, and gas. Everything is self-contained because it’s a disaster,” he says.

The initial group includes 34 members, whose duties include both assessment and labor. Future groups, which will include many Virginia volunteers, will be limited to two dozen due, in part, to safety concerns.

“Canine search and rescue teams from Alabama were searching for bodies ahead of us,” King says. “So that’s why we were not given permission to enter a certain area until the canine crews had searched and made sure all was clear. And a certain area we were told not to enter.”

But the mission has included many uplifting experiences, such as a meal operation that had been set up at a fire hall.

“Behind the counter was this couple. I started talking to them and I soon learned that they lost their home and there they were, sleeping in the fire hall’s quarters with their three kids and two dogs and here they are, behind the counter, serving me a lunch. And that was quite moving.”

After Wednesday morning prayers, he told crew members it will take a while, and there will be times when they need to throttle back.

“If you see a homeowner, talk to them,” he told them. “Hear their story and be prepared for an overwhelming amount of tears. They need someone to listen to them, and that’s part of our work, as well.”

King, himself, had to deal with tears shortly after his arrival. As he sat in his truck to make some phone calls, a woman broke down and cried when she saw the Mennonite Disaster Service sticker on the truck’s door. When King asked if he could help her, she said that no one could help her and her husband, who had lost their 20-year-old son in a motorcycle accident just before the storm rolled in. King and the couple cried, then prayed. The husband then asked if the crew had chain saws. That because his father has leukemia and he and his wife may need to call an ambulance, which wouldn’t be able to access their home because of a tree on their property.

“And I said, ‘sir, you’re going to be the first job we do.’ And I can report to you that that’s the first job we did. So maybe we restored a little hope on that mountain pass.”

People who would like to donate to Mennonite Disaster Service can do so at mds.org.