GOLDSBORO -- The first of four Hurricane Matthew recovery application centers is set to open at the end of the month.

Gov. Roy Cooper went to Goldsboro to tour the facility on Tuesday. The center will help mainly low-income Wayne County whose homes were damaged or lost during Matthew get funding for new housing or home repairs.

"To be able to deal directly with people to help them with their needs is exciting and positive," said Gov. Cooper. "We all need to pull together and make sure this effort works and that we help as many people as possible."

Rev. Kenneth Tate also came to see the application center. Tate's church, Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Goldsboro, had to completely rebuild after Matthew and he estimates 30 to 40 percent of his congregation will look to the center for help.

"After a year, people kind of forget about it, but there are still people hurting and still people that are nowhere near getting back everything that they've lost," said Tate. "They're still in survival mode."

The Goldsboro application center is scheduled to open November 30. Similar centers in Cumberland, Edgecombe, and Robeson counties are slated to open in mid-December.

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