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Haywood Christian Ministries describes post‑Helene relief, urges state to restore Medicaid HOP funding
Summary
Haywood Christian Ministries told the county board it distributed hundreds of thousands of pounds of food after Hurricane Helene, launched a harvest hub and refrigerated locker network, and asked commissioners and residents to press state lawmakers to restore funding for the NC Healthy Opportunities Pilot (HOP).
Haywood Christian Ministries (HCM) updated the Haywood County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 20, describing large‑scale disaster response after Hurricane Helene and asking the board to support restoration of state funding for the Healthy Opportunities Pilot, known as HOP. HCM’s director, Blake Hart, said the nonprofit shifted quickly from emergency response to long‑term food‑access infrastructure.
"In the first three months, October through December, we were able to distribute 314,000 pounds of food in Haywood County," Hart said, summarizing immediate post‑flood operations and partnerships with local farms and agencies. He said HCM worked with 34 partner agencies and 33 farms and purchased local produce to prevent market losses.
Hart described two programs born from the response: the Smoky Mountain Harvest Hub, which centralizes aggregation and cold storage to expand market access for small…
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