NEW HANOVER COUNTY, N.C. -- Thousands of people in the Carolinas have been displaced by Hurricane Florence and some are just now finding their way back in housing.

• Through Back@Home they are able to locate housing
• They also provide job training and child care
• This is a multi-million dollar initiative

A $12 million state initiative, Back@Home, launched to provide immediate housing to Florence victims, and a quarter of the funding is for New Hanover County.

The organization leading the program for the county is First Fruit Ministries, a local non-profit that typically serves those who are homeless and in poverty.

Executive director Lee Anna Stoker stays stepping up and helping in this way is not far off from what they typically do.

"There's still a number of people who have nowhere to go," Stoker said. "They cannot return to where they came from and they have no other options, and so, Back@Home is directed to people who are still in disaster shelters who need permanent housing."

In addition to still living in a shelter, those who qualify for the program are non-eligible for FEMA assistance which is 80 people in New Hanover County. So far, First Fruit Ministries has housed 14 of them.

"They didn't have any hope that our program, and our little assessment would actually help them," said Jonathan Bumgardner, First Fruit Ministries Housing Specialist. "To see their eyes light up when they sign a lease, and someone says to me, you know what I've never signed my own lease, and we're doing it. We're there doing it for doing it for that person."

Through Back@Home, they are able to locate housing, assist with rent and move in, and provide job training and child care, if necessary.

While First Fruit Ministries is using state funding to house displaced residents, they say their own resources are being strained to get these hurricane victims where there they need to be.

If you would like to donate to the non-profit, visit their website.