In the two weeks since Helene devastated the western part of the state, FEMA officials say the agency has distributed more than $60 million dollars in individual assistance to North Carolinians.
But for many of the tens of thousands of Latinos in the region's affected counties, language has been a barrier to getting information about federal aid. As a result, a robust network of organizations run by volunteers is coordinating efforts to give people a chance to get help from FEMA.
"El Centro is a big help for us, because we have trouble with a (FEMA) application because of the language," said Cecilia Delfín, a Hendersonville resident, in Spanish.
Late Wednesday evening, Delfín sat with her mother on the phone and a bilingual FEMA agent. She's one of hundreds of western North Carolina Latinos who went to the Latino Advocacy Coalition of Hendersonville, known on the ground as El Centro, for help.
It's in Henderson County, just 30 minutes south of Asheville. According to the U.S. Census, about 15,000 Latinos live in the county, and tens of thousands more in the surrounding areas. About 15% of the county speaks a language other than English at home, Census figures show.
Statewide, more than 1 million Latinos call North Carolina home, with rural counties seeing some of the fastest growth.
"We received warnings about the hurricane, but something like this has never happened here," said Delfín. "I've been here around 27 years and never lived through anything like this."
'We're all in the same situation:' Getting help applying for aid
Delfin said El Centro's help has been a welcome relief for people like her with limited English. She and neighbors were without power for nearly two weeks, suffering a range of losses in the mobile home park where they live. And she’s out of work until further notice.
"We're all in the same situation," she said. "(We had) no water, no power, for 12 days."
El Centro volunteers said they were the first in western North Carolina to lead a grassroots effort to help the region’s Latino residents seek federal aid in Spanish.
It’s going to be a lot harder for the Hispanic (person) who doesn’t speak English or the Indigenous person who speaks a rare language to find resources.Angie Peña, board member of the Latino Advocacy Coalition in Hendersonville
After the storm, word spread quickly that El Centro was helping Spanish speakers with FEMA applications.
This gave Weidi Munguia hope that she could get help to repair her mobile home after it flooded. She’s from Honduras and said the last time she saw a Hurricane like this was in 1998 when Category 5 Hurricane Mitch devastated her home country.
Munguia said she doesn’t have a social security number. But she learned that she could qualify for aid because her daughters are U.S. citizens. She hasn’t worked her housekeeping job since the storm.
El Centro’s Angie Peña said the group helped more than 150 families submit applications this week, mostly in Spanish. She said language barriers make disaster recovery more difficult.
"It’s going to be a lot harder for the Hispanic (person) who doesn’t speak English or the Indigenous person who speaks a rare language to find resources," Peña said.
The growing Hmong community in western NC is also facing similar language barrier issues, especially among older refugees.
Immigration status fuels concerns for some families
For many Latinos who are part of mixed-status families, learning they can qualify for federal aid has been a relief, said Peña, adding that U.S. citizens, permanent residents and Ukrainian refugees stopped by El Centro to get help this week.
"If they come in and tell us, 'I don’t have a social or I'm undocumented, but my children are US citizens,' then we know automatically those aren’t going to go through online, and we have to call in and we have to do the application that way," Peña said.
In Asheville, FEMA agents have been helping residents with applications in the offices of Compañeros Inmigrantes de la Montañas en Acción, or CIMA.
It's part of a larger Latino grassroots coalition of groups called Colaborativa La Milpa, which is spearheading mutual aid efforts among the Latino immigrant communities in Buncombe County.
"Honestly, I think it really helped that we were already well-organized, we have a collaborative, we know the community," said Geny Hernandez, the group’s interim director. "I don't know what would have happened otherwise."
The existence of a strong grassroots support network has helped get aid out quickly to the hardest-hit areas, like Asheville, Hernandez said. She said volunteers have also been working to stop rumors and misinformation about federal aid from spreading.
CIMA sent out text messages and social media alerts to dispel fears that immigration enforcement officials would detain people, Hernandez said.
That’s something FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell also said her agency has also been working on.
"In North Carolina, we had one of our Spanish speaking personnel that was there specifically to make sure he was doing the outreach and the engagement face to face in the communities to help them understand what resources and programs are available to them, to help counter some of the misinformation that’s out there," Criswell said in a media briefing this week.
Back at El Centro, Sandy Peña Hernandez said her organization will keep helping people for another week or so before gauging how recovery efforts will need to change.
"We’re trying to give these people hope, so we're trying to keep a straight face and trying to do the best that we can with that," Peña Hernandez said.
