“We will come get you, anxious dogs and all”

After Hurricane Helene tore through western North Carolina in September 2024, it took a few days for Senior Instructor of Criminal Justice Tracy Hoilman to access cell phone service again. Once she did, she was overwhelmed by the amount of messages coming through from former students.  

“When they found out what happened, they just rallied together and they tried to make sure we were okay and get us down the mountain,” Hoilman said. “They wanted a list of items that we needed and they had it there on a pallet for us waiting when we got to the place we were going.”  

Many of the students who reached out to Hoilman had graduated from the Lees-McRae Criminal Justice or Psychology programs more than a decade ago. When they heard the news of Helene, their first thought was “how can we help?”  

“We heard about everything going on and a lot of us don’t live very far from there, so we’re getting some of the storm ourselves. Once it blew over kind of where we were—we had our own little things here and there to deal with—most of us keep up with what happens in the mountains and we were thinking, ‘oh my gosh, the school,’ and we realized, wait, we know people that are up there still,” Katie Tobias ’13 said.  

Tobias, who works in probation and parole for the state of North Carolina, reached out to Hoilman and when she didn’t hear back, she started a group message with 15 of her former classmates to discuss the situation. Because most of the alumni are working in fields like law enforcement, public safety, or emergency response, they were prepared to immediately spring into action. Some were even assigned to work in the affected areas and volunteered to bring up supplies or help transport Hoilman and her family. By the time Hoilman was able to get in contact, the group was ready with money, supplies, and anything else she might need. They had found her a place to stay, if needed, and were ready to drive up and retrieve their former instructor themselves.  

“Katie’s husband is an emergency medical rescue person. She said, ‘Ms. Hoilman, we’ll come get you, and your dogs, and your laundry.’ I told her, ‘I’ve got a really scared, anxious dog.’ And she said, ‘We will come get you, anxious dogs and all,’” Hoilman said.  

Hoilman was able to safely get to her niece’s house, where supplies were waiting. Former students continued to reach out, however. Isaac Potter ’19, who is a sergeant for the Four Oaks Police Department, was given a week off work to come up to the High Country to help. He checked on Hoilman to see what she needed, and was able to cut down a damaged tree in her backyard.  

“I was with the fire department while I was in college and I got to know a lot of good people there in the town, people like Tracy Hoilman, and when I saw on the news everything that was going down, it struck a nerve, and I felt like the only thing I could do was get back,” Potter said.   

Potter and another coworker packed up a load of supplies and set out for the High Country, getting in contact with local emergency services to see where they could assist. They were put in contact with a group working near Hoilman’s home.  

“I shot her a message and she was very humble about it,” Potter said. “She said, ‘No there’s other people way worse off’ and I was like, ‘No, what do you need? We want to come help you.’” 

Potter and his coworker went door to door in the region, delivering supplies and offering assistance. They hiked through the woods to find homes that had been cut off due to flooding and damage. Despite the high level of need, many people were reluctant to take supplies, instead telling Potter that someone else might need it more.  

“They wanted to pass it on to the next person,” Potter said. “It was really nice to see the community come together.”  

Bayle Wood ’21 was another of Hoilman’s students who reached out. Wood works for the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and after Helene hit, she and many of her coworkers were eager to take on assignments in western North Carolina. She was able to help with security at a food bank in Newland and with floating the river in Marshall to look for bodies in the debris.  She also made sure to check on Hoilman and sent her fiancé to Hoilman’s home with additional supplies.  

“I just feel like it’s what you need to do when it hits that close to home, especially with the mountain community,” Wood said. She recalled that while she was working, she saw people who had lost their homes gathering supplies and setting up distribution centers to help others. “It just shows how willing the mountain community is to help other people out.” 

That mountain community is something that remains important to alumni, even long after they leave. Many came back to help because of how personal it felt to have a disaster in a place they love so deeply.  

“No matter how far we’ve gone or how long it’s been, we’re always drawn back because that’s our home away from home,” Tobias said. “That place is special to all of us. It was a safe place for us and it was messed with, so we did what we could to help out.” 

Even alumni who never attended classes on the main campus, like Susan Jaeger ’13, felt compelled to help when they saw that the area around Lees-McRae was in need. Jaeger earned her degree in Criminal Justice at a satellite campus that was in operation at the time, but really built a connection to the college while serving on the alumni board.  

“I really, really love that area. I’ve taken my grandchildren up there and parked in front of the buildings and taken their picture and said, ‘This is where you’re going to go to college,’” Jaeger said.  

Jaeger lives on the North Carolina coast and travels west regularly for medical treatments. As she was preparing to attend one of her first treatments after Helene, she decided it felt “irresponsible” to head west without bringing anything with her. She reached out to friends and neighbors to see if they wanted to donate any supplies. The response was far beyond anything she imagined.  

“We had maybe five or six box loads, and we had two men who called us and said, ‘If you need help transporting it let us know.’ I said, ‘It looks like we’re going to be able to get it on our truck and trailer no worries, but thank you for the offer,’” Jaeger said. The day before she left, “people just started showing up at our door, people we didn’t know, and they were bringing box loads of toilet tissue and paper towels and blankets and food. I called both of those men back and said, ‘Hey, I was wrong.’ We ended up with three pickup trucks and three trailer loads of supplies.” 

Jaeger has continued bringing supplies during each visit and has also volunteered at distribution centers. As Christmas was nearing, she helped collect and put together nearly 600 backpacks for students in the affected region. Each time she visited the High Country, she heard of more need and did what she could to help. Her love for the area and its people drives her to give back in any way she can.   

Throughout the period after the hurricane, Hoilman heard of or was contacted by many other alumni who helped with emergency response and recovery, either as part of their jobs or on their own time, including Olivia Masters ’21, Cooper Abernethy ’21, Sandra Aguirre ’13, Ashley Haskitt ’13, and Tamara Lackey ’15. Hoilman said that her own son, Kade Hoilman ’24, was kept busy working for Morganton Public Safety, Mitchell Medics, and as the EMS captain for the volunteer fire department. 

“The busiest week he had, he worked 126 hours,” Hoilman said.  

The Criminal Justice program at Lees-McRae is designed to prepare students for situations like these. The students who choose to work in fields like public safety and emergency response know that they may be called on at any moment to assist in dangerous scenarios, and they have to be ready. Although the situation was not one that anyone would wish to go through, for Hoilman, it was gratifying to see how well prepared her students were.  

“You always hope that that connection is there, and we try to give them experiential learning opportunities, and we try to give them assignments that help them think critically,” Hoilman said. “The fact that they were thinking critically, that was really cool. You don’t always get to see the end product.” 

Hoilman reiterated that Criminal Justice is not a field where one has the luxury of sitting back and letting someone else take the lead. The people who are drawn to the field are often those who want to help others and who are emotionally equipped to respond quickly.  

The nature of the major also leads to the students and faculty forging strong bonds that last long after graduation. According to Tobias, alumni working in high-pressured fields check in with each other regularly, which is another reason why they were able to come together so quickly after the hurricane.  

Hoilman was touched by how many alumni gave back to the area, reached out to her personally, and took the lead in a difficult situation. Their current success and willingness to step up is a testament to both their own compassionate and humanitarian personalities and Hoilman’s thoughtful instruction.  

“It makes me feel like what we do matters,” Hoilman said. “They just impress me. I’m proud of them. So proud.”  

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Thanks to these and many other incredible volunteers, the High Country has seen much improvement since the storm. However, there is still work to be done. Alumni, families, friends, and community members are invited to join Lees-McRae for a Mountain Day of Service on Friday, March 28. Help support this amazing mountain community.  

Register for Mountain Day of Service