SWANNANOA, N.C. (WGHP) – A small business in Swannanoa is using its property to help neighbors six months after Hurricane Helene hit. “Swannanoa is doing OK. We are very resilient Appalachian mountain people,” said Jenica Grooms from Swannanoa.  Road to Recovery Grooms said since He lene hit their community, they have been loud enough to get continued support from people across the country for the past six months. The path to recovery has been long and slow, but at the same time, there has been progress. There is a noticeable difference, but there are still piles of debris and lots of debris lining the roadways. At Dark City Customs, they cleared their old collapsed building and instead filled the area with supplies to rally their community together to rebuild. “We smile a little bit more,” Grooms said. She has hope for the future. “We keep fighting for what is ours,” Grooms said. She also has the motivation to keep going. “My goal was to keep people in the community. Otherwise, people were going to move out, but at the same time, it was to keep people safe,” Grooms said. She wanted to build 10 homes for their neighbors in need on their property. “We built them to last. We built them to be sturdy. We built them to keep people warm,” Grooms said. All the costs of construction, supplies and delivery were donated. “It is pretty fantastic to know people are still seeing us, hearing us and want to help,” Grooms said. In total, they built 105 homes. All of them are 12 feet by 16 feet, but they handed out more than just the bare bones of the building. Each month, tens of thousands of dollars of donations come from Michelle Moore in Nashville. “I give her a list of all the needs and necessities for western North Carolina and the area, and then they hand pick and palletize all of it,” Grooms said. Inside storage containers, there are piles and piles of food. “You are not using regular ovens. You are using burners, electric griddles, grills ... it is not one hundred percent fresh food, but it is food that it can be stored," Grooms said. There are also bedding, towels and rugs. “You are putting all of these structures on mud. They are not going on green pastures, so it was really important to give them some rugs to be able to put their shoes on," Grooms said. There is constant cleaning at home and around town. “It is still going to take years and years and years,” Grooms said. Crumbled buildings and scattered debris are still around Swannanoa, but the community is connected after their bridge was repaired just a short time ago. “It is happy tears because, to a lot of people, that bridge means nothing. To us, it was everything because now it connects our worlds, and it makes things easier here for us,” Grooms said. What's Next? It’s time for Grooms to switch to the next phase. The construction of houses has moved off the property because it’s time to get back to business and get an income. “The job that I applied for is actually working with Helene victims and helping the families, doing kind of what I have been doing for the last five months,” Grooms said. She has thought about starting again somewhere else but has decided against it. “I  would be lying if I said we didn’t think about it … I don’t know if I could just walk away from here without knowing that we tried everything before we were to try to pack up and leave, so it is worth fighting for. For now, it is worth showing our kids not to give up,” Grooms said. She said she has been denied by FEMA for home repairs, denied by insurance for their business and denied for loans from the Small Business Administration. But she hopes Dark City Customs will still make its return to Swannanoa somehow and in some way. “If we don’t ever get to build back on our property ... I am just hoping that at least our property ... went out helping our community,” Grooms said. ...read more read less