BOONE, N.C. — Just days before Christmas, Nan Hollifield was picking up supplies at Camping World in Marion. It's a donation center run by Project Your Home.

What You Need To Know

  • Christmas is different for people in the mountains

  • Many say the things they lost in the storm are making Christmas feel different this year

  • Many are still living in hotels, campers and even in tents

"It's not my normal. I just think that everything's been turned upside down," Nan Hollifield said.

She says this year she will be spending Christmas with her husband at her uncle's house where they are having to stay since Helene blew through.

"Whenever it hit, the house dropped, then it pushed it, and it dropped again and after it dropped, the debris of the house just covered me," Hollifield said.

It covered her up to her chest.

"All I could move was my arm. Everything was numb on the bottom. I was pinned so tight, and it took people about three hours to get me out," Hollifield said.

They lost their home, their cars and their pets. They stayed inside a bee house waiting for rescuers for 12 hours. This year, Christmas was different.

"I'm not in my house. I don't have my decorations. All my ornaments that I have had over the years, 42 years. Every year I would buy a new ornament," Hollifield said.

It's different for everyone, she says, so she's thankful to be OK.

Melissa Chapman has been volunteering here since just after Helene.

"Came to get necessities that my family needed from the storm damage," Chapman said.

Chapman and her nine children lost their home and everything they owned. They were in a tent and now are in a 24-foot camper.

"That sudden change was hard. It was even harder for them to make new adjustments, they weren't understanding the world around them," Chapman said.

She comes here every day to try to help others who are suffering as well. She says her children understand that Christmas won't be the same.

"We are struggling to get a home. We had to go in the camper, so there's not as much space there," Chapman said.

She is doing the best she can to keep the holiday spirit alive not only for her children, but for everyone she needs.

Something Volunteer Coordinator Michelle Craighead says is important.

"The little kids that don't know what it's like to not have a Christmas, they shouldn't know what it's like to not have a Christmas, so we are going to be here to help them any way we can," Craighead said.