As Hurricane Helene ravages the southeastern U.S., many Americans are waking up to a familiar, gut-wrenching reality: the government’s response is too little, too late. In places like Asheville, North Carolina, people are living through a modern-day Katrina, with FEMA and the Red Cross nowhere to be found. While federal and state agencies drag their feet, Mercury One is already on the ground to fill the void.
Tragedy strikes in Asheville, North Carolina
The stories coming out of the impacted areas are heart-wrenching. One of Mercury One’s contacts, a former Green Beret, was out of town when the hurricane hit. He lost contact with his wife and 3-year-old daughter. Frantically, he returned and found them by helicopter in the midst of the destruction, along with over 100 other people still awaiting rescue. That's just one story out of many being reported back to Mercury One. In North Carolina alone, hundreds of thousands are facing weeks without clean water, and approximately 600 people are still missing. Ambulances are submerged in floodwaters, filled with patients who didn’t make it to the hospital in time.
The real question is, why does the government continue to fail to step in to help Americans in crisis? We’ve seen it before in Maui, East Palestine, and now here. As Mercury One’s executive director J.P. Decker said on The Glenn Beck Program, “Did we not learn from these past disasters?” That's why Glenn founded Mercury One in the first place: if we truly believe that we shouldn't be reliant on the government, we have to be willing to step up and love our neighbor when they are in need.
And that's exactly what Mercury One is doing.
Mercury One is stepping up to fill in the void
Mercury One is partnering with other organizations to help Hurricane Helene victims while the government stands by. One partner, the Jack Brewer Foundation is on the ground in North Carolina helping veterans and other vulnerable populations who have lost everything. With communications down, Mercury One’s partners like CBRC are deploying satellite internet systems to restore basic communication.
These organizations are the true first responders, cutting through red tape and bureaucratic delays. During the wildfires in Lahaina, CBRC bypassed the National Guard’s roadblocks to set up communication lines. Today, they’re doing the same in North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee.
On his radio show, Glenn pointed to the hypocrisy of our federal government spending billions abroad while Americans are left to fend for themselves during natural disasters. As Glenn rightly points out, these are our fellow Americans. They’re not asking for handouts; they’re asking for the government to do its basic job. And when the government doesn’t step in, Mercury One fills the gap.
How you can help
But these efforts are costly. The ongoing relief efforts in Asheville alone will require massive financial resources just to ensure that residents have clean water for the next few weeks alone.
At a time when the government is failing its citizens, it’s up to the rest of us to step in. Every penny donated for Mercury One will go directly to providing relief to Hurricane Helene victims. No overhead. No bureaucracy. Just immediate action to help our fellow Americans in desperate need.
This isn’t just a story about a hurricane—it’s a story about the fundamental need for Americans to take care of one another when institutions fail. The harsh truth is that in the event of a major collapse, nobody is coming to save us. It’s up to us.
Please consider donating at MercuryOne.org. Today, it’s Asheville. Tomorrow, it could be your town.
