Lakes Region couple brings donated trailers to North Carolina for people displaced by hurricane

For Christine St. Cyr and her husband Ron, community outreach is second nature. They have been all around the world, visiting nearly 20 countries, and have also given their time to national tragedies including in New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Last year, Hurricane Helene brought catastrophic flooding to the southeastern United States, including western North Carolina, where the couple decided to help next.

“We have a couple, who are friends of ours, who have purchased four trailers, now home-house trailers,” Christine, 68, said. “My husband and I have delivered two of them to west North Carolina, to families who either had no home or the home they were living in was filled with mold.”

Christine and Ron, 72, brought the trailers down at the beginning of December 2024, attached to a pickup truck. The couple grew up in the Lakes Region and raised their kids in Gilford. They delivered the trailers from Farmington, where they live now, to North Carolina, a 15-hour drive. When they got there, they could not believe the destruction.

“The devastation that you see firsthand, it isn't anything like seeing it on the news or TV,” Ron said. “You can't even comprehend what the power of the water did.”

The friends who donated the trailers are Julie Long and Charlie Hunt. Long said she saw a video online about the aftermath of the hurricane that said a 9-month-old baby died of hypothermia. She found this heartbreaking, and she wanted to do something to help. They first donated their own trailer.

“I talked to my boyfriend, and we hadn’t used our camper at all, and we decided to just donate it,” Long said.

A second trailer was donated to Long and Hunt from someone in Maine who was originally selling it online. The seller heard about the couple's efforts, and decided to make a donation. Then Long and Hunt bought two more trailers, which the St. Cyrs brought to North Carolina.

The St. Cyrs, who have been together for 49 years, brought the trailers down, and connected with the nonprofit Operation Anchor to find who could most use them. Operation Anchor, founded in 2024 following Hurricane Helene, is helping rebuild communities by providing disaster relief. The nonprofit also assists with addiction recovery and preventing human trafficking. The St. Cyrs felt aligned with the group's mission.

“They guide us as to where these trailers are going, and we help them set them up in the people's homes, hook them up and get people living out of the tents and into something warm again,” Ron said.

Others in the St. Cyrs' Strafford County community contributed to the cause. While the St. Cyrs went to North Carolina on their own dime, someone made a donation for their gas money. Long’s brother traveled to North Carolina with chainsaws to help clear out debris. The Grace Community Church in Rochester also held a fundraiser to support those affected by Hurricane Helene, raising almost $14,000. Every year around Christmas Eve, the church holds a fundraiser for a different cause. Pastor Glen Boardman said their decision to help North Carolina was influenced by the St. Cyrs' trip.

“It was an easy decision for us because we wanted to help out in N.C. somehow,” Boardman said.

The money raised was passed along to Kelly and Brian Cram, a couple who lives on a farm in North Carolina. The Crams spent a lot of their own time and money helping people affected by the hurricane. After the St. Cyrs met the Crams during their trip, Sara Smith, missions and outreach director at the church, thought they would be able to distribute the money most effectively. The church also donated $5,000 directly to the Crams, to help reimburse the money they already spent.

“There’s no strings attached,” Smith said. “We just wanted to give generously, and we know they will do the same.”

The work in North Carolina is not done. There are still more families in need of assistance. The St. Cyrs intend to make another trip in the spring to bring more trailers and assistance. They are looking for more donations of trailers, and monetary donations, to continue their outreach work.

“I could cry driving by people's yards where they have these campers, and you know that they haven't been used in years, and they're just sitting there, and it's like, 'I could take this,'” Christine said. “We could take this to North Carolina, and somebody could be warm and have a stove and a bed.”

Anyone interested in getting involved should reach out directly to Christine at chris@cnhesinc.com.

With so much destruction, a couple of trailers is not going to fix the problem. Christine believes anything she can help provide to the people of west North Carolina is worthwhile.

“It's just a speck, but it's something. It's for more families that are living in a warm camper trailer, rather than in a tent outside in the cold,” she said. “Because, quite frankly, it's just as cold down there as it is up here.”