Elena Dalton - BRAHM - Listening Day - Sept 20, 2025
Story
This story was submitted on December 4, 2025 by Admin
- Title
- Elena Dalton - BRAHM - Listening Day - Sept 20, 2025
- Description
-
This oral history interview features Elena Dalton, Executive Director of FARM Cafe (Feed All Regardless of Means) in downtown Boone, North Carolina, recorded on September 20, 2025, at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum. Dalton had been intensely focused on the nonprofit's largest fundraiser of the year on Tuesday of that week and only began hearing about the approaching storm afterward. On Thursday, as rain poured so heavily that flooding began inside the building, she and program director Shane moved old sandbag tent weights upstairs to place in front of doors as a precaution. After clearing a garden bag that had blocked a roof drain, Dalton drove home past the New River in the Bamboo area and was alarmed by how swiftly the water was rising. Living on the east side of the county near the Blue Ridge Parkway, she spent the storm standing at her back door listening to the sounds of wind and the snapping, breaking, and booming of giant white pines surrounding her property, while receiving jarring images from friends showing King Street—where FARM Cafe is located—looking like a brown river.
Thanks to neighbors chainsawing and clearing roads, Dalton reached the cafe Sunday morning to find everything dry with power restored. After confirming with the power company that refrigeration had only been down a couple hours and all food was safe, she, one staff member, and founder Renee Bowman immediately began cooking—and didn't stop for two months. They opened the doors with a sign reading "The lights are on, you can boil the water here. Come sit and be for a little while if you just need a place to be." As one of the only places with both electricity and running water (though not potable), FARM Cafe became a critical community hub where people could charge phones, get hot meals, boil water, and simply receive comfort. Within hours of requesting bottled water, the entire dining room was filled with donations. Dalton describes a couple and their friend arriving covered in debris and mud after their home was destroyed by a landslide—everything except the room they were in—with FARM Cafe being the first place they came for safety and to let people know they were alive. She witnessed profound acts of kindness, including community members who had lost everything coming in to cook for others, and a Greensboro farmer driving up an entire trailer of farm-raised meat collected from neighbors. Dalton reflects on how the experience reinforced her belief that people are fundamentally good, emphasizing the importance of compassion and remembering how quickly circumstances can change anyone's situation—a lesson learned from the unhoused individuals FARM Cafe serves. - Spatial Coverage
- n
- Date
- n
- Item sets
- Unknown
- Media
Elena Dalton.wav