The North Carolinian delivering campers & hope to WNC
We spoke to Gary Pigg, a Cabarrus County resident who delivered more than 220 campers to residents after Tropical Storm Helene.
Last September, David Keister escaped his Western North Carolina home in Green Mountain 10 minutes before the second story floated away. The water rushing over the North Toe River crushed the home’s first-floor walls, taking with it most of Keister’s personal possessions and work equipment.
Keister owns Toe River Threadworks, a canvas manufacturing company. He sews products such as aprons, tote bags, tool rolls, and wood carriers on industrial sewing machines using cotton grown in the United States and local beeswax. However, his sewing shop and the materials inside were destroyed.
He slept on the floor in someone else’s damaged house for two weeks before moving to a borrowed camper. Each day, he’d make the trek to his land to find his personal property.
Delivering tangible hope
On October 25, 2024, almost a month after the storm, Keister heard through a neighbor that a camper was being delivered to him. He found a spot near the road to park it. When volunteers with Operation Helo, a nonprofit providing support in crisis situations, showed up with a brand new 17-foot Coleman Camper, they made quick work of leveling the camper and setting up the generator.
“I actually have a place that is mine,” Keister says. “It’s a little hidey hole. For my mental and emotional state, it was a huge salvation.”
Even now, more than six months after Tropical Storm Helene devastated the region, Keister has only sifted through one-third of the mud and sand, looking for items he may be able to recover and restore.
“A lot of the stuff is still here that I am trying to salvage,” Keister says.
In the last few weeks, Keister is back in production with help from an anonymous philanthropist. Ten percent of his limited Lemonade Collection will fund long-term resiliency programs in Western North Carolina. He’s planning to travel in an 18-foot trailer he recently acquired through a nonprofit.
“I will be traveling as a mobile sewing shop touring the country, visiting small communities and talking about resiliency,” he explains, “and what they can do to make their community stronger.”
Answering the call
Cabarrus County resident Gary Pigg was fishing in Biloxi, Mississippi, when the storm hit.
“On the flight home, I was trying to go to sleep,” Pigg says. “And every time I laid my head up against the plane window, I would hear, ‘Wake up, get your book and start writing down everything you would need if you were in that situation.’”
Pigg had no plans to travel to Western North Carolina. He even told his wife he wasn’t sure why he put the list together. But at 5:45 a.m., the day after arriving home, his friends from the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office called to ask for help bringing supplies to the mountains. Incidentally, the items on their list matched the ones on Pigg’s list from the plane flight.
Pigg, with the help of his father, Larry Pigg, began collecting supplies from area churches and fire stations to deliver to the towns in Western North Carolina. They used equipment from the family-owned businesses to haul the items. They started with a 12-foot trailer and, within a week, moved to a 26-car hauler when they had too much to carry.
Operation Helo
Operation Helo asked Pigg to facilitate the delivery of campers to residents who needed housing. Since that first call, Pigg has made over 100 trips to the mountains and delivered more than 220 campers with the help of friends and volunteers. The largest delivery was a 26-truck convoy pulling new campers for people living in Mitchell and Yancey counties.
“You pull up to a house that is either gone or gutted,” Pigg says. “Here we are delivering a 17-foot camper, and they are so excited about it. They start crying. We start crying. They tell you their story about what happened.”
Only four of the campers delivered were previously owned—the others were corporate and individual donations from all over the country. A new camper ranges from $15,000 to $20,000 and is free to the new owners.
Before delivery, volunteers fill the campers with supplies, a generator, propane, and five gallons of gasoline—everything the residents need to get started.
Pigg keeps meticulous records, so he knows the camper delivered to David Keister is number 28. Pigg stays in touch with Keister, calling to see what he needs. He’s brought Keister a shipping container to store any salvaged property. Once, Pigg even dropped off four steaks and macaroni and cheese for him.
Building a better future
Pigg foresees helping in the region for the next year as they move into the building phase. He wants to bring in reputable contractors—he’s worried about folks getting scammed.
“I think this is making me a better person in the long run because I am actually seeing the good, the bad, and the ugly,” he says. “The good part is that when we deliver a camper to someone who has lost everything, we’re giving them hope.”
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