Shelter from the storm: Donors provide Haywood family mortgage-free home
After losing three houses in three floods on the same property, the Lees have found a home on higher ground.
Kyle Perrotti photo
After having their Haywood County home destroyed by three separate floods, Michelle Lee, her husband Roger and their son Cheyenne have found new digs on higher ground.
The land they had lived on was in the Lee family for generations. Roger’s 71 years have played out on the wooded patch near a normally calm creek that slipped its banks and wreaked havoc on the property three times — in 2004 when Hurricanes Frances and Ivan arrived; in 2021, Fred; and in 2024, Helene.
“I lost three homes in 20 years,” Roger said. “Same thing [each time].”
Last month, the Lees were handed the keys to their new house up Utah Mountain, a home that comes with a breathtaking view of the Cataloochee Divide and no mortgage, no financial burden. This was made possible by hundreds of generous donations from local folks around the county.
The folks who helped welcome the Lees home all sang Michelle’s praises. Michelle was named the 2025 Haywood County Employee of the Year for her work as the Food and Nutrition Supervisor at Health and Human Services. Despite all the turmoil her family endured in the wake of Helene, she still showed up to work, putting others before herself to ensure people received vital aid.
In 2025, Michelle’s supervisor, Teresa Allison, shared, “Michelle is intelligent, dependable and confident — but beyond those qualities is a person who is generous, loyal, caring and deeply respectful. She is her team’s biggest advocate and leads by example. She’s not only an outstanding employee — she’s an inspiration. We’re all better for knowing her.”
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Mountain Projects Executive Director Si Simmons handed the keys over to Michelle in front of a small group of friends, family and Mountain Projects employees. He considered the moment, a celebration of success, to reflect not only the hard work of employees and volunteers but also the greater spirit of generosity seen in the region even before the floodwaters receded.
“A lot of people from all over the United States looked for ways to help this community, help this region,” Simmons said. “I’ve never seen the outpouring of generosity that we all saw.”
Michelle admitted she has has a heart for service but also acknowledged that, as some have told her, sometimes you have to “put on your own oxygen mask before helping others.” That simply meant accepting the help Mountain Projects staff and donors were offering so that she could back to serving the community she loves so much.
She said the process to get from a point of desperation to finally again enjoying stable housing has been difficult. But while a year and a half may seem like a while, it’s nothing compared to what others are experiencing as they seek government aid. Michelle marveled at the difference between the 120 pages she had to review and fill out to receive FEMA aid and the four-page form she had to fill out for Mountain Projects.
Maggie Leftwich has been with Mountain Projects almost six years and serves as the Affordable Housing Manager. She echoed what Michelle said, noting that after the frustration of dealing with the cumbersome FEMA buy-out process, getting faster results from an organization rooted in these mountains brings solace. That’s something Leftwich is proud of.
“We’re excited because they would have had an opportunity with the slow process of the traditional buyouts’ navigation processes. This is speeding up something that could have taken years,” she said.
Leftwich said that several people applied for the program that was able to provide a safe haven for the Lees, others whose property was destroyed by Helene. In some cases, like the Lees, land that had belonged to families for generations was deemed uninhabitable. Mountain Projects staff considered applicants’ financial situations, responsibility with previous home ownership and references.
From left, Si Simmons, Michelle Lee, Roger Lee, Cheyenne Lee and Maggie Leftwich, shortly after Simmons handed the Lee family the keys to their new home. Kyle Perrotti photo
The Lees had reached out to Mountain Projects more recently than some who expressed interest in that program, but while others weren’t quite a good fit for one reason or another, Leftwich and others at Mountain Projects felt they’d found the perfect match.
In a job that brings employees face-to-face with people suffering hardships and requires absorbing some of that stress, moments like when the Lees finally set foot in their new home can create a renewed commitment of the mission. Leftwich said that occasion reminded her why she got into that field.
“It really reenergizes us,” she said. “It gets the juices flowing in the brain. You start to think, ‘Okay, well, how were able to creatively problem solve this? What else can we gear those partnerships or that theory to.’”
The destruction of the homes on Roger’s land was bad enough, but it becoming basically uninsurable was the death blow. The Lees had planned to pass it on to their son, the same Roger inherited it after his grandmother passed away in 2003 — just a year before Ivan and Frances hit. This new property replaces that lost feeling of generational security. For that, the Lees wished to thank the hundreds of donors. Roger said they’ve even asked for a list of everyone involved, noting that many contributed “a lot of things people will never know.”
The new home, built on donated land, is already stocked with appliances, and any extra furniture the family needs can also be provided. The house has a master bedroom, a room for Cheyenne and an office where Michelle can focus on the work she does to help so many others. However, most importantly it provides a sense of safety and security.
“Oh my gosh. It’s a home. It’s freedom,” Michelle said.
And yet with the trauma endured, Michelle said sometimes it’s hard to accept that something so good is actually happening. Even in the wake of such a great thing, a fight-or-flight response can still dominate the central nervous system.
“I cried for the first week after they told us this was even a possibility,” she said. “We wanted to start moving, and I still wouldn’t hardly pack the box … when’s the next shoe going to drop?”
But now what was once a dream has become a reality.
“It’s much more than just a home,” she said. “It’s the mental ease it presents.”
