BANNER ELK – A few days after he performed at an epic concert that raised nearly $25 million for Western North Carolina, country music star Eric Church quietly toured Banner Elk with Gov. Roy Cooper, viewing Tropical Storm Helene damage and relief efforts.

“It’s the most special place in the world to me, the mountains of this area,” Church said.

Church grew up in Granite Falls and now spends about half the year in his Banner Elk home. He’s been helping support WNC since Helene hit, raising money and developing plans for long-term recovery.

Most notably, Church and fellow country singer/North Carolina native Luke Combs managed to quickly bring together acts like James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban and more for the “Concert for Carolina” on Oct. 26 in Charlotte. Over 80,000 people attended the Bank of America Stadium show, a news release said, which Church himself opened with “Hallelujah.”

“I’ve never played a show closer to my heart,” he told the audience.

The millions the concert raised will benefit Helene victims through nonprofits such as Samaritan’s Purse, Manna Food Bank and Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC, as well as Church’s own nonprofit, Chief Cares.

Eric Church announces ‘Blueprint for Blue Ridge’ homebuilding effort

At the concert, Church announced another effort to help Helene victims: a Chief Cares initiative called “A Blueprint for the Blue Ridge” that will build 100 homes for families in Avery County and the surrounding area. He spoke about it Oct. 31 in Banner Elk.

More: 2024 White House Christmas tree chosen from Avery County farm after Tropical Storm Helene

Chief Cares is partnering with Clayton Homes for the project, he said, and a team will be in Avery County next week to locate suitable land.

“Once we deliver the land to them, they’ll put 100 homes in Avery County in 100 days,” he said of Clayton Homes.

There’s no construction timeline yet, and Church did not yet know how families will be selected for the homes.

Other goals of “Blueprint for the Blue Ridge” include addressing “longer-term needs like creating jobs, rebuilding schools, and supporting local businesses,” the Chief Cares website says.

In another long-term effort, Church is signing over the publishing royalties from his song “Darkest Hour,” his first solo song in over three years, to “the people of North Carolina,” a news release said.

“We’ve been helping with boots on the ground efforts, but this is something that will live beyond just the immediate recovery,” he said. “This is not a quick thing to fix, so hopefully ‘Darkest Hour’ will be able to contribute to that for a long time to come. This song goes to my home, North Carolina, now and forever.”

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) – A non-profit organization from Mississippi, with a good understanding of going through a storm, is making plans to travel to North Carolina this weekend to provide resources.

Members of the largest all-male carnival krewe on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Krewe of Neptune, plan to bring lots of food and good vibes for those affected by Helene.

Kenny Foreman, assistant lieutenant of Krewe of Neptune, said they have been through similar situations like the one most North Carolinians are experiencing now.

“It’s, you know, obviously, we know from going through Hurricane Katrina and many of the other storms that we’ve dealt with down here, what it’s like going through that kind of devastation,” said Foreman.

Foreman said his parents lost their home to Katrina and a few family members had to swim their way out of it. “So we kind of understand,” said Foreman. ” And we feel like we can get on their level and understand where they’re at.”

He said they are bringing lots of food and plan to feed between 1200 and 1400 people while in North Carolina and provide other resources as well. This includes: sleeping bags, diapers, clothes, propane heaters, blankets and more.

The more than 500 crewmen will be in Burnsville, North Carolina on Saturday, Nov. 2 at City Hall located at 110 Town Square from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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About 20 years ago, in the early 2000s, Paul Shumaker’s party began experiencing a troubling trend.

Shumaker, a Republican operative with a classic Carolinian drawl, laid it out for Al Jazeera in stark terms: Republican registration started declining, while the number of “unaffiliated” voters gradually rose.

“Now there are no liberal Republicans left, and there are fewer moderate Republicans, too,” Shumaker said.

He shared data showing how both major parties, Republicans and Democrats, have, in total, invested more than $147m in the state over the last 10 years — but even that couldn’t stop an “explosion” of unaffiliated voters, who are now the clear majority.

Of the 8.5 million voters in North Carolina this year, approximately 38 percent are registered as “unaffiliated”. That dwarfs the 32 percent who identify as Democrat and the 30 percent who say they’re Republican.

This explosion of “unaffiliated” voters dovetails with larger demographic trends showing Americans bucking traditional party labels, adding to the unpredictability of elections.

However, that doesn’t mean “unaffiliated” voters will opt for a third-party candidate. Surveys have shown that the majority of independent voters do, in fact, “lean” consistently towards either the Republican side or the Democrats.

Which is to say, they’re very much up for grabs — and in demand — by the two major parties.

“Neither party can win without building a coalition for unaffiliated voters,” Shumaker said.

Republicans, he explained, need to appeal to unaffiliated voters in the suburbs and cities — two areas Democrats are expected to win.

Democrats, meanwhile, are hoping to use “unaffiliated” voters to compensate for losses in their base. More than 2.4 million people in North Carolina registered as Democrat as of October 26 — down from more than 2.6 million at around the same point in the 2020 election cycle.

Party strategists like Jackson hope to make up the loss by appealing to voters in left-wing strongholds — typically urban centres — while holding ground in rural areas.

After all, North Carolina has the largest rural population in the US after Texas.

“People often say you have to lose by less in the rural areas, but that’s not true: You just have to stop the bleeding,” Jackson said. “If Kamala Harris holds [outgoing President] Joe Biden’s margins, she could have a shot.”

Mac McCorkle, a Democratic political consultant with a cheery, amiable aura, refers to unaffiliated voters as “precious” to his party. He believes only a small number of voters will decide whether North Carolina backs Harris or Trump.

“It’s not like 20 percent of the electorate can go either way,” he said. “We’re talking about a race that’ll be decided by one, two, three percent.”