Seven weeks after Hurricane Helene damaged parts of the southeast, students in one western North Carolina county are still out of school.

It was the regionality and subject matter but also the steel underneath the quiet tale that called it to mind when I spoke to Jennifer Greene, the Executive Director of the North Carolina Christmas Tree Association recently,

The benefit concert put on by the North Carolina Folk Festival at the Steven Tanger Center on Nov. 7 raised over $40,000 for Hurricane Helene relief, according to a press release sent out Tuesday. The event featured performances from western North Carolina-based bands Steep Canyon Rangers and the Holler Choir.