In September of 2024 Hurricane Helene brought devastating rains, mudslides and flooding in the mountains of western North Carolina devastating communities and changing the lives of countless families. When my wife and I lived in Texas a similar hurricane dumped over four feet of water over the course of 6 days, which equaled around 20 trillion gallons of water in Texas and Louisiana. Over 135,000 homes were damaged or destroyed causing families to seek temporary housing.

Having grown up in Houston and living through flooding and hurricanes didn’t prepare me for the devastation and suffering I encountered. We knew many people in the Houston area and just about everyone knew of several families facing significant hardship and in some cases complete loss of everything they owned. Your Holy Family held a retreat for families in the fall of 2017 and we provided retreat scholarships to families who, in some cases, had lost everything. We were fortunate to have dinner with one of the scholarship families last month and they told us that the retreat changed their lives forever and provided much needed solace and healing in the midst of significant trauma and uncertainty in their family.

We are happy to announce that we have full scholarships available for families in western South and North Carolina who are suffering significant hardship due to Hurricane Helene to attend the 2024 Carolinas Retreat for Families on December 27-30th, 2024 at Heart Ridge Retreat and Cultural Center in Sunset, SC. Our ministry has been blessed with generous donors who have pledged to fully cover the costs of these families to attend the retreat.  We have room for a few more families to attend the retreat, and these spots are already fully paid for by generous donors who wish to provide some relief for families who are living through an extended period of suffering.

If your family is experiencing a difficult time due to Hurricane Helene and would like to attend a great retreat for families, please visit YHFRetreat.org and register for the retreat to take advantage of this opportunity. If you have any questions, please contact Denae Hebert (denae@yourholyfamily.org 512-657-4388).