Written by SAM GARRETT
FOSCOE, N.C. — Most nonprofit organizations are started by someone who identifies a need in their community and makes a conscious decision to act. Foscoe Home Team is no different. Founder and Executive Director Sherrye Trice, a High Country native, witnessed the destructive powers of hurricane Helene as she assessed the damage to her home’s unpaved road and the surrounding neighborhood on September 27, 2024. Trice immediately realized the needs in Foscoe and the region would be overwhelming and ongoing.
Trice lives within walking distance of the Foscoe Grandfather Community Center. Less than a week following the storm, Trice commandeered the community center to use as an emergency resource center. What started as a short-term idea to provide water, toilet paper and food staples quickly developed into one of the largest disaster recovery centers in the High Country.
Over the past year, Foscoe Home Team has grown in volume and impact as community needs increased almost weekly the entire year. While other resource centers started closing their doors in early 2025, Foscoe Home Team expanded. By spring 2025, the Foscoe Home Team leadership realized the organization could not use the community center ongoing, so it leased a new space just down the road.
Today, Foscoe Home Team has a free store and inventory warehouse to help organize donations. Foscoe Home Team is not a food pantry – it is a food pantry plus. Foscoe Home Team carries personal care items, household essentials, survival supplies and provides firewood, propane and appliances when needed.
“When someone presents a need, we typically have it in the store,” Trice said. “If we don’t, I place the need on Facebook and the community provides. The community that supports Foscoe Home Team is amazing; they show love for people they don’t know each and every day.”
Volunteers
To operate Foscoe Home Team, Trice relies on volunteers to keep things running smoothly. Board Treasurer Tammy Michaels was not directly impacted by the hurricane but recognized an opportunity to help those who were.
“When Helene happened, I never even lost power,” Michaels said. “The next day, I learned that people lost their lives, their homes, their sense of safety – I couldn’t just do nothing.”
Michaels recalled that her initial impression of the organization made her feel as though she was in the right place.
“When I wandered into Foscoe Home Team and Sherrye explained that God had told her to ‘feed the people’ and she was just doing what He commanded, I knew it was where He wanted me to be,” Michaels said. “I love the pure-hearted passion of the people involved.”
Current board of directors member Lawson Barnes applied his previous disaster response experience to gather and distribute supplies following the storm. When it became clear the recovery would extend long-term, he sought out Foscoe Home Team.
“I am well versed in storm relief and I began my search for an organization that was fluid, not bound by protocol and unburdened by affiliation,” Barnes said. “I was looking for a supply hub who could get supplies to those who needed it the most; quickly, efficiently, and without questions or paperwork.”
Barnes had heard about Trice and her effort to form a relief hub, so took several generators out of Spartanburg, S.C. to Foscoe Home Team and observed the organization’s operations.
“I walked in and was immediately struck by the size of the operation, the passion of her volunteers and the kind, compassionate care being given to the folks needing the basics,” Barnes said. “I realized that this operation was truly grassroots, organically grown in response to our community in crisis and serving the underserved … no questions asked, no paperwork required, no shame given. I knew in that same moment I was ‘home.’ I began working for Foscoe Home Team the next day and continue to this day.”
Lately
The last thirty days have been a blur – the type of blur that brings clarity. Foscoe Home Team has operated at a frantic pace while experiencing clarity from the constant and profound synchronicity with which everyone is working together with a single purpose in mind. This tempo has become the new norm for Executive Director Sherrye Trice and Foscoe Home Team.
The month began with an event at Linville Falls Winery to celebrate the High Country’s resilience on September 27, the one year anniversary of Hurricane Helene. The Wiseman family generously provided the vineyard for the event. The night was filled with music by The Shelby Rae Moore Band, a silent auction, whiskey pull, amazing wine, raffle, matching grant, stories of resilience, a message from Trice and the launch of the 25 in 2025 campaign. With the matching grant, the evening raised awareness, compassion and over $30,000 for Foscoe Home Team.
The following week, Trice shared Foscoe Home Team’s story on 96.5 FM WATA’s Mark in the Morning. The afternoon of the interview, Foscoe Home Team received a $15,000 grant from The Boone Area Chamber of Commerce.
The next week, Foscoe Home Team was honored to be the recipient of funds raised during the Makoto’s golf tournament held at Blowing Rock Country Club. The following day, Foscoe Home Team received a delivery from a gleaning operating in Statesville, NC with what could only be described as award-winning watermelons.
Every week box trucks and SUVs arrive from out-of-state to deliver supplies and food. Almost daily, SUVs and pick-up trucks arrive from North Carolina and Tennessee towns just down the road. The volunteer pool includes locals, summer residents, people from neighboring towns and civic and church groups. Foscoe Home Team is not affiliated with any church or religious organization and has received donations and volunteers from over a dozen faiths. Foscoe Home Team is not tied to any government program or grant, though it works with a number of government agencies and helps health and human services with placements and resources when it can. Foscoe Home Team is truly an independent resource for anyone in need and works with all faiths, beliefs and communities. Board Secretary Lisa Bender loves “the inclusivity and the group of volunteers that have come together and stay to help run the store, donate supplies, etc.”
Looking ahead
Foscoe Home Team hopes to secure funding or in-kind donations to obtain a commercial refrigerator, a commercial freezer and a 12- or 15-foot box truck. Those assets would help expand and sustain the organization’s capacity to serve. All donations are crucial to providing hope to the community.
“What’s needed is for support to keep coming in for purchasing food staples and survival gear for people who continue to struggle with the ravages of the storm,” Michaels said. “So many of the customers, when asked, speak of the care that they feel at the store, and that care can only exist if there are tangible items to supply to those in need.”
Giving
Foscoe Home Team is in the middle of its 25 in 2025 campaign. If you are reading this, Foscoe Home Team asks that you contribute $25, donate 25 nonperishable items (soup, canned corn, spaghetti, etc.) and invite 25 people to do the same. The organization serves over 500 people a week, which is double or triple the number most High Country food pantries serve. To sustain that volume of service requires a lot of support.
“Time and money, some corporate partnerships for revolving needs such as bottled water and protein based shelf stable foods would be fantastic,” Board Secretary Lisa Bender said. “The outpouring from individuals and small businesses has been astounding and continues to help but the needs are still there.”
You can find more information about ways to get involved, as well as how to donate financial gifts, food and supplies by visiting 828recovers.org.
You must be logged in to post a comment.