Long Term Recovery Group turns one

On Feb. 25, 2025, organizations throughout Johnson County meet to launch a nonprofit that would coordinate their disparate Helene recovery efforts. Its name, the Johnson County Long Term Recovery Group (LTRG), reflected their understanding that it would be a marathon project. It's been one year since then, and Case Manager Chassie Timbs said she's seeing Facebook posts doubting there's really that much left to do. Her numbers tell another story: just since the start of 2026, LTRG has opened 194 new cases and closed 42. That brings the total number of open cases to 563 — roughly one for every 33 Johnson County citizens. "The town itself is still in distress," Timbs said. In order to get more community members involved, both as volunteers and clients, LTRG has begun hosting meetings every other Monday at 6 p.m. at its headquarters next to Food Lion. "We like to keep the community updated and informed of what we're doing [and] how we're doing it," Executive Director Rebecca Wright said. Timbs said LTRG's biggest focus right now is preparing for the influx of volunteers that'll come in Spring — in groups of 5 to 50 — to build and repair houses. Wright said they need the community's help giving those workers "housing, meals and just making an all-around good experience for them." "The better we are to them, the better they'll respond [and] come back," Timbs added. Wright said a group has traveled from the Bahamas multiple times to volunteer. When asked what the biggest surprise over the past year has been, Wright bluntly said, "the lack of government help." "A lot of people forget, we lost 400 jobs with Parkdale and that's put a major economic strain on our clients, because the majority of them did work for Parkdale," she said. "So not only are we looking at that, we're looking at…[the] emotional stress of losing your home, losing your home, all that." One couple who has received help in a wide variety of forms from the LTRG since its founding is Lorie and Allen Buchanan. "They've been coaching us through everything — spiritually, financially, emotionally. They've been there every step of the way," Lorie said. The Buchanans lived next to Antioch Baptist Church when Helene hit. Lorie said they saw nearby light poles get "picked up like a toothpick." "The house started to lift off the basement foundation," Allen said. "We got out the back door and went up the hill, and when we did, the house twisted in half on the far side." The Buchanans were stranded on the hill for three days with only their pick-up truck and without Allen's medicine. Allen said he eventually turned an American flag upside down; an ex-marine passed by in a dump truck, recognized it as a sign of distress and got EMS to rescue them. The Buchanans now live in a doublewide trailer above their previous home, funded by various churches. LTRG helped furnish the trailer, build a gravel road and install a handicap-accessible ramp plus decking. "I'm about as hillbilly as anybody, and I'm stubborn and got lot of pride," Allen said. "[But] some of these boys here need to let their pride go and say, 'I need help.'" In addition to pride, Wright said many people avoid reaching out to LTRG because of fears that they'll be scammed. She believes those fears are the result of "the rumor mill." The Buchanans identified one more reason people might not ask for help. They described how a man attended one of LTRG's meetings after a year of drinking water out of a creek from a sump pump because his well was contaminated. "They asked him why he hadn't come [before then], and he said, 'well there's people who needed help more than I did.'"