STRINGING BEANS
Showing up in time of need
By Sarah Plummer
In many ways Hurricane Helene was unprecedented , but in the days that followed , I saw a familiar response : Appalachians gathering their resources to take care of each other . We know how to show up for one another in big and small ways , across social divides and political demarcations . I ’ m talking about monetary donations and the physical work that follows a disaster — floods , mining accidents , derechos — but I ’ m also talking about the way we “ pitch in ” or take care of one another during hard times .
When the nursing home called me at midnight to tell me Mom was dying , I told my friend Lexi that I was heading to Giles County to sit with her . “ I ’ m coming with you ,” she said . And she did . And I wasn ’ t alone sitting with Mom . After Mom passed , Laura , who ’ s been my bestie since college , sent me a Facebook message to tell me she was on her way to do whatever was needed . My brother sat at the piano for Mom ’ s funeral , so Shilah , who ’ s been my friend since high school , sat with me in the front row of the reserved family pews . She is family . Those who fulfill our needs before we ask , or sometimes before we even know what we need ourselves , are family . And we aren ’ t alone when we live in a community with one another , regardless of how we organize our social spheres .
So I don ’ t find the community response to Helene unprecedented . I saw communities cooking food and sharing what was in their fridges in the days after the 2016 flood in southern
West Virginia . I saw the community wrap its arms around families waiting at the Upper Big Branch Mine in 2010 for any news of their loved ones .
There ’ s a long road to recovery in the wake of Helene . As I write this , we are receiving more and more updates about the great loss of life in North Carolina and Tennessee . After the power is back on and the roads are repaired , Appalachians will continue to take care of those grieving in the hurricane ’ s wake . We will send the items that need to be sent , and we will sit with those who need our love .
A family friend in Kentucky lost his pet recently . He was crying so hard he kept almost dropping his large dying dog . A man in a “ Trump 2024 ” shirt ran full speed across six lanes of traffic to help him carry her inside the vet clinic . In other circumstances , I ’ m convinced the two men would not have had a positive interaction .
I believe there is an important message here as we barrel headfirst into the upcoming election , another Thanksgiving , and the winter holidays : We know how to come together .
I know people can be generous everywhere , but there ’ s something wired differently in us Appalachian folks . Many of us know what it ’ s like to do without . To have needs . And to have needs met by others . We help each other when our own food stores , bank accounts and emotional bandwidth are running low .
My dad is one of the most generous people I know . One summer Laura and I directed plays in Ohio , one of which was a free production of “ A Midsummer Night ’ s Dream ” in a local park . An actor misplaced his periodappropriate shoes and was wearing DayGlo orange Nikes . Dad had barely arrived and had yet to set up his camp chair before I came over and said , “ I need your shoes .” He didn ’ t ask why or if he ’ d ever see them again . He just took them off and handed them over . And it ’ s not just with his family . He will inconvenience himself ( and sometimes members of his family ) to help someone else . I believe he trusts that if someone asks him for something it ’ s because they really need help . It is easy to become disillusioned if our trust is broken or we see people taking advantage of others ’ kindness , but I choose to believe that if someone asks for help , it ’ s because they have needs .
There seems to be a social contract among old-school Appalachians . You embrace self-reliance , but when the neighbor shows up after a death with a casserole or drops off half a cord of wood during a harsh winter , you accept kindness in the community . It ’ s not a hand-out or a hand-up when you stand beside one another .
So I ’ ll make this my Election Day , Thanksgiving , Christmas , New Year ’ s wish for us all : We keep finding ways to show up for one another without judgment and without expectation . We show up in big and small ways . We keep seeing each other as a community , from the holler up the road to North Carolina and beyond . And we know that in Appalachia we never have to face the hard stuff alone . ❖
Sarah Plummer is a postdoctoral associate at Virginia Tech funded by The Mellon Foundation , teaching in Tech ’ s Appalachian Studies Program . She works with Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia , a group sharing untold histories across the region . She worked as a journalist for seven years in West Virginia at The Register-Herald and the Associated Press . As a Giles County , Va ., native , she is proudly Appalachian and acutely invested in the stories shared about the region . Courtesy photo
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