- [Worker] Slide them in, pull back.

(tool shooting) - [Dara] At first glance, you'd think it was a professional construction site.

(tools whirring) There's sawing, wiring, drilling, and lots of big power tools all around.

- These guys have put me to work hammering, and nailing, and doing all kinds of stuff.

(drill whirring) - [Dara] They've got such a good flow, they look like they've been working together for years.

But truth is, it hasn't been long at all.

- I try to get out here whenever I can a couple times a week and lend a hand.

- [Dara] And these aren't paid workers.

They're volunteers who sprung into action after Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina.

- I really wanted to get my hands dirty and be part of, you know, being able to help in any way that I could.

- [Dara] That help is building portable showers from scratch, nail by nail with the nonprofit Appalachia Shower Project.

The organization was founded shortly after the storm.

- Made a couple of runs that week up to the mountains just to deliver things with our church van.

So I got to see some of the immediate devastation that was going on, see how badly impacted people were.

And it was tugging at my heartstrings, I felt like that wasn't enough.

- [Dara] Then a few days later, founder Roger Mills got a nudge from a friend.

- Sent me a text on the Thursday after Helene with a picture of a shower trailer.

Then she said, "Could you build a couple of these?"

- [Dara] After drawing up some plans, that's exactly what he did with some help from his wife, Erin.

- He knows his talents and he knows his abilities.

And so watching him step up, and take that on was inspiring but not surprising.

This is kind of who he is.

- [Dara] Though the days are long volunteering, Roger doesn't let it stop him.

- One of the things that I felt guilty about in the immediate, you know, wake of the hurricane was like, my 30 minute luxurious shower at the end of a hard day.

I was thinking about how sweaty I was after a day's work and how great that shower felt, and I was worried that people up there, not just for comfort, but for hygiene, for sanitation, were gonna be in bad shape.

- [Dara] For his day job, Roger is a high-end luxury home builder.

Skills that come in handy as he's crafting the six-foot-wide showers that come with plumbing, lights, and a tankless water heat.

- LOEWE's has been incredibly generous.

They basically donated all the material we could use to build as many as we felt like were practical.

- [Dara] It's a task that's taken a lot of time and manpower.

- It seems like the most benign tool ever.

- [Dara] So much so, Roger has temporarily stepped away from his company to be all in.

His employees have volunteered their time and his business partner, Geoff Eloge, has been running their company and volunteering with the non-profit, too.

- It just made tons of sense, and so it seemed like a great way that we could use our company, use our resources, use our team to do something that was meaningful.

(soft music) - [Dara] Meaningful might be an understatement.

Here at the village at Covenant Community in Asheville, these four showers are the only option for those who've lost everything.

- It's better than not having anything or using baby wipes 'cause, you know, we have had to do that.

- [Dara] It's a whole new way of life now for Alicia Billings, as she cranks up the generator that powers her RV.

It's where she and her son live now since losing their two-bedroom home.

- See, the power was out, took out the septic system, so it's just, FEMA did deem it unsafe to live in.

- [Dara] But for the mom of four who couldn't get in touch with her kids during the storm, material things were the least of her worries.

- It was really scary not knowing if they, any of them were okay, you know?

I mean, one of my children had to swim out.

Another one saw, you know, people drown, and it was...

So that puts a toll on mom, too, you know?

To know your kids are going through that.

- [Dara] What helps ease her mind is knowing they now have a safe place to stay.

Their RV is parked in the grass at Covenant Community Church.

- I am very proud of our church to know that we are putting boots to the ground and helping where we can has been just a huge blessing for us to know that there is a need and we're gonna do what we're called to do.

- [Dara] Right after the hurricane, Covenant opened its property for people to park RVs.

Now it's turned into a community of 20 RVs with plans to soon have roads, sewer, water, and power lines.

- The church is not Sunday morning.

The church is what the church does Monday through Saturday.

It's about being there for people, helping them in difficult times, and in good times.

- [Dara] Whether it's kindness from church members in a once-empty lot, or from volunteers eagerly making showers in a warehouse.

- I'm not looking for gratitude.

That's not why we do things like this.

I just wanna know that somebody got clean at the end of the day.

- [Dara] The people of Western Carolina have a lot of support as they head down the long rebuilding road.

For "Carolina Impact," I'm Dara Khaalid.