Helene was one of the deadliest storms in recent U.S. history, and has now also caused huge changes for the communities it damaged.
More than 1.2 million customers were still in the dark on Wednesday in the Carolinas and Georgia.
Residents cooked food on grills and hiked in the hopes of finding a cell signal to let loved ones know they were alive.
Ann LeBlanc, co-founder and president at Mercy Chefs, said the organization has served over 25,000 meals to residents hurt by the storm and plans to ramp up to serving some 20,000 per day just in Asheville, North Carolina.
"The need is tremendous," she said in an interview with Scripps News.
"People's faces light up," she said. "It's the first hot food they've had since the storm hit."
"It seems like such a simple thing, but it makes such a huge difference."
Watch the full interview with LeBlanc in the video above.
RELATED STORY | Biden tours storm damage in ravaged North Carolina
President Joe Biden traveled to North Carolina Wednesday afternoon to survey areas ravaged by the impacts of Hurricane Helene.
Ahead of his visit to the state, President Biden announced he approved the deployment of up to 1,000 active-duty soldiers to assist the North Carolina National Guard in the recovery efforts.
