Remembering the week we cleared storm damage in Asheville after that freak October ice storm in 2018.

We worked 14-hour days for a week straight, but the way the whole neighborhood came out with coffee and sandwiches for the crew made the brutal work feel like we were actually helping our community, not just removing trees.

3 comments

3 Comments

riley_king162mo ago

Yeah, that part about the neighborhood bringing out coffee and sandwiches... I read a story about that kind of thing really keeping crews going during those long disaster cleanup days.

beth_stone2mo ago

That's the part that sticks with you, isn't it? It makes me wonder if that kind of community help actually changes how the work gets done. Do you think the crews work harder or just feel better about the job when they know people are backing them up like that?

scott.grace1mo ago

Oh man, yeah. I've seen it firsthand too, a couple summers ago when a storm came through our neighborhood. The crews were out there for hours in the heat, and folks from the block started bringing out coolers full of ice pops and water bottles. It wasn't just that they worked harder-they worked longer. You could see it in how they moved, like the weight of the job felt a little lighter knowing people appreciated them. It definitely changes the whole mood, makes it feel less like a grind and more like a team effort.