'A milestone.' Final community care station closes in Buncombe County
By Laura Hackett
May 2, 2025 at 3:52 PM EDT
In the throes of the 53-day water crisis brought on by Hurricane Helene, locals found themselves in a stinker of a situation: limited or no access to showers or fresh laundry.
As a stopgap, Buncombe County opened eight community care stations to provide laundry machines, showers, water, wi-fi and other resources for the community. The sites operated daily for months, with locations slowly shuttering as demand shrank.
The care site at Owen Pool in Swannanoa, one of the areas hardest hit by Helene, was the longest-running center. This week, it finally closed up shop.
Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder described the closure as a “milestone.”
“We're fully now talking about recovery and how we start to build our recovery and resiliency in our community,” she said.
Since October, the centers – funded by state and federal government – provided 48,713 showers and 61,671 loads of laundry, free of charge for residents, according to Pinder.
Initially, it cost around $180,000 per week to operate the centers. But that expense fell sharply ( around $180,000 per month) as fewer people relied on the sites, she said.
The locations were both centrally located and a bit unusual. The trailers of laundry machines, portable showers and stacks of government-issued box water were stationed at churches and parking lots, among other places.
The model of centralizing community showers and laundry during a disaster is fairly new, Pinder told BPR. She said it started in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian’s 2022 assault on Florida.
“You might have a shower facility for a community, but laundry and all the other pieces that came with that [community care station] was not something that was pretty common before Hurricane Ian in Florida,” she said.
“We wanted to make sure people had the ability for hygiene, especially for kids that have to go to school. We wanted to provide that for them as long as we possibly could.”
In April, usage at the Owen Pool site dropped to about 100 visitors per day, Pinder said. Now that the site is closing, Buncombe is using grant money to temporarily continue offering laundry and showers to those still in need.
“I don’t have an answer on how long-term that money will last, but right now we have $50,000 secured by United Way to pay for coin-operated laundry,” Pinder said.
Free pre-loaded laundry cards are available through Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministries for use at Black Mountain Coin Laundry, which operates 24/7. Residents can fill out this intake form to register for a card or visit Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministries from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Monday-Friday.
A shower trailer is available at Swannanoa First Baptist Church (503 Park St., Swannanoa) in Beacon Village, including a family shower space. Hours are 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 7-9 p.m. on weeknights, and 1-4 p.m. on Sundays.
As a stopgap, Buncombe County opened eight community care stations to provide laundry machines, showers, water, wi-fi and other resources for the community. The sites operated daily for months, with locations slowly shuttering as demand shrank.
The care site at Owen Pool in Swannanoa, one of the areas hardest hit by Helene, was the longest-running center. This week, it finally closed up shop.
Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder described the closure as a “milestone.”
“We're fully now talking about recovery and how we start to build our recovery and resiliency in our community,” she said.
Since October, the centers – funded by state and federal government – provided 48,713 showers and 61,671 loads of laundry, free of charge for residents, according to Pinder.
Initially, it cost around $180,000 per week to operate the centers. But that expense fell sharply ( around $180,000 per month) as fewer people relied on the sites, she said.
The locations were both centrally located and a bit unusual. The trailers of laundry machines, portable showers and stacks of government-issued box water were stationed at churches and parking lots, among other places.
The model of centralizing community showers and laundry during a disaster is fairly new, Pinder told BPR. She said it started in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian’s 2022 assault on Florida.
“You might have a shower facility for a community, but laundry and all the other pieces that came with that [community care station] was not something that was pretty common before Hurricane Ian in Florida,” she said.
“We wanted to make sure people had the ability for hygiene, especially for kids that have to go to school. We wanted to provide that for them as long as we possibly could.”
In April, usage at the Owen Pool site dropped to about 100 visitors per day, Pinder said. Now that the site is closing, Buncombe is using grant money to temporarily continue offering laundry and showers to those still in need.
“I don’t have an answer on how long-term that money will last, but right now we have $50,000 secured by United Way to pay for coin-operated laundry,” Pinder said.
Free pre-loaded laundry cards are available through Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministries for use at Black Mountain Coin Laundry, which operates 24/7. Residents can fill out this intake form to register for a card or visit Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministries from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Monday-Friday.
A shower trailer is available at Swannanoa First Baptist Church (503 Park St., Swannanoa) in Beacon Village, including a family shower space. Hours are 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 7-9 p.m. on weeknights, and 1-4 p.m. on Sundays.