Country music star Eric Church is making headway on his promise to build 100 homes for the people of Avery County in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Through his charity Chief Cares, Eric Church will build homes for 100 North Carolina families displaced by Hurricane Helene last year. The nonprofit has purchased land in Avery County that will eventually be a brand-new neighborhood with 40 to 50 homes for displaced flood victims. Church’s organization hopes to break ground in April to have people in their new homes by June.
Chief Cares was established by Eric and Katherine Church in 2013 to impact lives and make a difference not only in the United States but throughout the world. More than $10 million has been granted to 100-plus charitable organizations around the world, with donations to Chief Cares utilized to provide support to underprivileged families and children throughout Tennessee and North Carolina.
Church, himself a North Carolina native, originally announced the plan during a visit to Banner Elk with former Gov. Roy Cooper last October. He stressed the importance of keeping people in their community rather than relocating somewhere else: “The sense of community, I know how strong that is because I’ve been here. We’re going to try to keep people in their community. Give them a home where their church is, where their school is, so they continue to build it from the inside out.”
As part of his commitment to helping western North Carolina rebuild, Church signed over the publishing rights to his song “Darkest Hour” to the state. Church said: “It’s been a lot of work, but I’m excited to get people back to living a normal life in their community. That was the whole goal for this the entire time. My message of this would be hope, and there’s a line in ‘Darkest Hour’ that says, ‘In your darkest hour, I’ll come runnin’.’ We’re comin’ and we’re closer now than we were.”
Click here to learn more about applying for housing assistance through Chief Cares.
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