WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It's been two months since Hurricane Helene cut a path of destruction across the Southeast, killing more than 200 people.

Ahead of the holiday season, we returned to the hard-hit region of Western North Carolina, where residents are still struggling to rebuild their lives.

Despite the challenges they face, residents described being overwhelmed with gratitude for a renewed sense of community.

Laura Barron-Lopez has our report.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: A few minutes outside Asheville, North Carolina, the small town of Swannanoa has a new community hub in one of the last places you would expect.

WOMAN: You guy hungry?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The parking lot of a pretzel shop.

CHRISTOPHER SMITH, Swannanoa, North Carolina, Resident: Two months of feeding our community, we're family now.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Christopher Smith is one of many volunteers who come together every day to feed more than 1,000 people.

Work he's been doing since just days after the storm hit in late September.

CHRISTOPHER SMITH: Like, in the beginning, we were all pretty scared.

We were all desperate.

And this was the place to come eat.

So the whole community was here in line talking amongst each other, sharing the pain, sharing the joy.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: But the pain here is still fresh.

More than 40 people died in this county in the deadliest and most destructive storm in North Carolina's history.

Helene's floodwaters swept away entire mountain communities, destroyed thousands of homes, and left whole neighborhoods underwater, leaving this area almost completely unrecognizable.

CHRISTOPHER SMITH: A lot of these folks don't have anything except each other, and I see them still expressing gratitude.

And that's touching to me, because I know for a fact they were destroyed.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: This daily gathering has become a crucial lifeline for many residents who were forced to live without basic necessities, like running water or power, for weeks.

Volunteers are doing everything they can to help out, like Emily Smith, a licensed massage therapist who moved here during the pandemic.

EMILY SMITH, Black Mountain, North Carolina, Resident: I mean, it's been a really humbling experience to go without the essentials.

But in this time of being able to live so simply, there's gratefulness for things that we weren't able to be grateful for fore.

JORDAN DOTY, Swannanoa, North Carolina, Resident: As strangers, you kind of are immediately friends because you know we have all gone through something together.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Jordan Doty and Paul Krause have also been coming here a few times a week.

The mattress store they owned together was destroyed in the storm.

PAUL KRAUSE, Swannanoa, North Carolina, Resident: In losing all of the business, it's been incredibly supportive that everyone's like, you will get back up, or we are going to get back up together.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Across town, Gerardo Gutierrez is also coming to grips with all that's been lost.

GERARDO GUTIERREZ, Swannanoa, North Carolina, Resident: My key chain, all complete gone.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The nearby Swannanoa River, which swelled to 26 feet above its normal levels, filled his family's entire home, leaving it uninhabitable.

For nearly two months, he and his wife and two daughters have been renting a nearby basement, an expense they can't afford along with their mortgage.

GERARDO GUTIERREZ: One-month-and-a half, I have nothing.

One-month-and-a half, missing everything, everything.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: But since last week, with the help of a local nonprofit called BeLoved Asheville, the family has a new temporary place to call home, this donated R.V.

GERARDO GUTIERREZ: I have a home again, yes.

AMY CANTRELL, BeLoved Asheville: We're prepared to rebuild with people.

And he wants to come back to this land.

This is a very special place to him.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Amy Cantrell and Gustavo Bermejo are two of the co-directors of BeLoved.

GUSTAVO BERMEJO, BeLoved Asheville: They lost everything.

And we are bringing more than supplies.

We are bringing more than R.V.s.

We are bringing hope and the promise that we're going to rebuild.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: That hope and willingness to help others has been a trademark of this recovery, says Drew Reisinger, Buncombe County's register of deeds.

DREW REISINGER, Register of Deeds, Buncombe County, North Carolina: We need you all's help.

We really do have a big problem that is a public health crisis.

People weren't paid.

They just wanted to figure out how they could pitch in.

So we had thousands of people who were just everyday people who were wanting to do something to help and so we put them to work.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Back in October, he led the Flush Brigade, groups of volunteers who lugged water into apartment buildings across Asheville, helping residents flush their toilets.

DREW REISINGER: I have had multiple people tell us that was the moment of hope.

Like, when things changed for them is when they can get this really gross problem out of their house.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Community members also work to track down missing loved ones, coordinate medical care and help with the still ongoing cleanup efforts.

DREW REISINGER: I'm so proud of this town.

I'm so proud of this community.

I'm so grateful to be here amongst these people.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The state says the effort to clean up and rebuild these communities is expected to cost more than $50 billion.

And much of the region's economy took a near fatal blow.

But, despite it all, many residents say they plan to stay.

And the storm has only strengthened their resolve.

AMY CANTRELL: Here in the midst of all the devastation that comes from Helene, the gratitude that all of us have learned is that we know our neighbors now and we love each other and we were here to save each other's lives.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: A silver lining from a storm that took so much from so many.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Laura Barron-Lopez.