High Country Caregivers: Kinship Care with a “Whatever it Takes” Resolve
STORY BY SAM GARRETT
Since 2019, Jacob Willis has served as the executive director for High Country Caregivers (HCC). The organization is dedicated to supporting grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. Willis came to HCC with over two decades of nonprofit leadership experience. For the most part, over the last five years, his energy has been focused on managing social workers, event management, navigating grandparent’s rights with the courts, working with the organization’s board of directors, and connecting grandparents with resources and opportunities to love their grandkids. On September 27, the vision and mission remained, and the practical application of the organization’s activity transformed.
September 28, 2024 through October 3, 2024
Willis and HCC board members awoke to the realization that the “weather” in the High Country on September 27 was much more than a storm. The word spread late that day with updates
continuing the following day detailing the catastrophic nature of the disaster. The group assembled its list and started reaching out to clients. With 368 caregivers supporting 437 children in Ashe, Avery, Wilkes, Watauga, Yancey, and Mitchell counties, outreach was more complicated than making hundreds of phone calls or sending out a group email.
“Internet was down, cell service was down; if someone had a home phone, those lines were down, and many roads had been destroyed, damaged, or closed,” said Willis. “After a couple of days of calling, we still had close to a hundred families we could not reach and had not heard from.”
The staff at High Country Caregivers, along with members of the board and volunteers, persisted. The new focus was threefold and clear:
Step 1 – Check on the immediate well-being of clients.
Step 2 – Evaluate each family’s situation and identify needs.
Step 3 – Do whatever it takes to meet families’ needs or connect them with people and organizations that can.
The list of 400-plus families to contact quickly shrank to around a dozen and the names that remained lived in areas with no road access, power, or cell service. HCC representatives remained optimistic that they would be able to reach the few families they could not contact and shifted resources toward evaluating and meeting the needs of their clients.
October 3, 2024 through
around Thanksgiving
Very quickly HCC transformed into a food pantry, water drop-off and delivery station, fuel depot, new and used clothing resource, and makeshift store that offered everything in stock for free. Staff and volunteers continued to call clients and drive to the homes of families they could not reach.
“The entire HCC community has stepped up – the staff,
Many of our clients do not have an abundance of resources; they have a destroyed car, the bridge to their house is destroyed, their first floor [is] flooded, and most of their possessions are ruined. They are overwhelmed. We tried to just show up with practical items.
- JACOB WILLIS
the board, our volunteers and the community,” said Willis.
According to Willis, many of the needs were obvious ones, though when people are in unexpected situations, it can be hard to problem-solve.
“Many of our clients do not have an abundance of resources; they have a destroyed car, the bridge to their house is destroyed, their first floor [is] flooded, and most of their possessions are ruined,” said Willis. “They are overwhelmed. We tried to just show up with practical items.”
The items HCC delivered included food, clothes, blankets, propane, generators, and water.
“When your house may be deemed by the government as uninhabitable, everything else in your life seems less important,” said Willis.
With so many other organizations distributing food, clothes, and personal care items, Willis saw a need to provide fuel so folks could heat their homes.
“As we visited our clients and their neighbors, we realized that when it got cold, folks would need a heat source,” said Willis. “Some generous donors provided us with 55-gallon drums and other folks gave us access to propane and diesel fuel. We have delivered fuel to dozens of families that otherwise would not have a source for heat.”
In the weeks immediately following the disaster, people visited the HCC office on Highway 105 in Foscoe almost daily to pick up supplies, and many days, a trailer, pick-up, or SUV left the office to deliver essential items to those without transportation. As they witnessed the large-scale devastation, HCC workers realized many of their clients also needed vehicles and homes. Representatives began searching for modular homes they could receive as donations or purchase affordably.
Since September 27, many nonprofit organizations, including High Country Caregivers, have learned new and creative ways to care for the people they serve. Willis never anticipated that he would be visiting partially destroyed homes to deliver food, water, and dog food, in addition to over 250 gallons of fuel to fill up propane tanks. Willis reflected on the experience with a smile on his face and his speech interrupted at times with his laughter.
“They don’t teach any of this in executive director school,” said Willis.
As the winter months approach, the needs are still growing.
“We need help providing fuel, blankets, coats, vehicles, and modular homes,” said Willis. “If you can help, visit highcountrycaregivers.org.” t
