Trey Walk ’19 is gaining attention and recognition for a longform feature he wrote documenting Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in Western North Carolina.

Trey shares that what he found through his reporting, was “a broken social safety net and the charming, generous, humane neighbors quietly stepping in to repair it.”

Check out the story here: https://themargin.us/features/pursuing-higher-ground

Photojournalist Christian Monterrosa, who documented the destruction of the storm in real time, pitched the idea to go back six months later to capture the stories of the communities impacted and any progress made. Trey immediately signed on to the project.

“Despite not being a climate or disaster recovery journalist (I had a big learning curve on that part), I’ve always been telling stories of people and places that are overlooked. So, telling this story about Appalachia, months after the headlines had moved on, came naturally to me. I was honored to be part of this project.”

While reporting, some surprising truths emerged, “I was heartened to see that in moments of extreme crisis, people came together. Strangers became neighbors and neighbors became family. As the climate crisis and large-scale disasters happen more frequently, it’s easy to imagine people going “every person for themselves” or sticking to their groups. But we saw the opposite in these towns – every person offered all they had to help their neighbors get whole.”

“There was also lots of art and music. I hope this came across in the story. During our reporting I noticed that in every town, people were making art displays using the storm wreckage. It’s a reminder that one of the most human features is the drive to create and admire beauty.”

Trey hopes that the story exposes deficiencies in the social safety net. “We’ve failed to allocate sufficient resources to help families prepare for, respond to, or recover from disasters. People turn to GoFundMe for help, and some charity groups and faith communities step in to fill the gap. This isn’t scalable. I hope the story encourages people to make disaster preparedness and long-term recovery part of their political agenda. We need to advocate for more resources because as the ending of the story says, change is coming. I want us to be ready and to refuse leaving our most vulnerable behind.”