In early April, nearly seven months after Tropical Storm Helene, Mandy Wallace and her fellow MountainTrue crew members were removing debris near Biltmore Village, where Sweeten Creek flows into the Swannanoa River. Amid the cleanup effort, Wallace noticed a few items, including a ceramic mug and a photo album.
When she picked up the latter, she couldn’t help but think of her kids. “I’ve got two boys,” she says. “They’re in their 20s now, but I have their baby albums — those are priceless.”
To Wallace’s delight, the photos had not been damaged by the flood. After cleaning off the mud, she posted images of the album and mug on a Facebook page designed to connect residents with items lost during the storm. Within a few hours, Caitlin Wright reached out to Wallace in the comment section, noting the items were hers…