This story was excerpted from an interview in September 2026 with Charlotte and Tonya Huskins.

Charlotte Huskins After Hurricane Helene come through, we we cook for my ex-husband. Because he didn’t have electricity. I mean, he didn’t have nobody had electricity. But we have a yeah, we have a probate stove. So I told him when I found out that he’d been eating cold beanie weenies and stuff like that. I said, “Hey, we cook. We got a warm meal. You get a warm meal.”

Tonya Huskins So I made sure you know we was eating two and three hot meals a day. So I started sending it down the hill to him. I said, “Make sure, send it to Pood. Send it to Pood.” So I would eat a hot meal and knowing he’s eating cold, so I’m sending it to my father-in-law too. I don’t care. Send it to him. We eat. He eats. Just you know, that’s not right. If we’re eating, he’s eating.

Charlotte Huskins Yeah, I people know how strange it is. I mean, that’s my ex-husband-

Shyanne Bellamy No-

Charlotte Huskins -but no, it ain’t no hard feelings. I mean, this one dude, he lived. Now he lived down through here. He gave me a big, I mean, a huge box of tomatoes. Now my brothers got what they wanted, and I got what I want. And I thought, “Lord, I’m not going to be able to eat all these tomatoes!” So I called my ex-husband, asked him if he wanted them, and he said, “Well, sure.” And he sent my son to get them. And yeah, he sent my son to get them. My son said, “Well, he told me to pay you what, what they cost you.” And I said, “Well, I said that didn’t cost me anything, so.”

Tonya Huskins Take ’em on.

Charlotte Huskins I done that three times. I think my ex mother-in-law canned like 70 quarts of tomatoes off of what I’d given her, but I just thought I’m just like the other eight. There’s no need of letting it go to waste. I mean, throwing it away just ’cause I couldn’t eat it all. I guess it will be if you really, if you really needed help, they they will help you. They do help you. Everybody like pulls together and helps you if you need it. And that’s, I guess, that would be like the best thing about this community.