Through Our Eyes
Available Now Million Memory Project

Through Our Eyes: A Community’s Photographic Memory of Hurricane Helene

Producer: Kevin Reese

Rebuild Hot Springs Area

$55.00

Through Our Eyes: A Community’s Photographic Memory of Hurricane Helene brings together the work of 48 local contributors, whose voices reflect both the hardship of the storm and the hope that followed. Within its pages is the story of a small mountain community that faced loss, supported one another, and moved through recovery with Appalachian grit and grace. The book has been nominated for the Weatherford Award, recognizing its contribution to Appalachian storytelling and cultural preservation.

What’s inside

  • A community-sourced photobook that traces the path from devastation to rebuilding and renewal
  • A collection of 200+ full-color pages, bringing together the sights and stories of those who walked through the storm.
  • A journey told in chapters, carrying us from the first warnings through the impact, the rebuilding, and the moments of reopening.
  • A reflection of love and thanks for the helpers who answered when we needed them most.
Topics Community Storytelling Photojournalism

Your purchase makes a difference

When you order a print edition, 50% of proceeds go directly to Rebuild Hot Springs Area to support long-term recovery for neighbors, small businesses, and community spaces. Every book helps put materials in homes, tools on job sites, and care where it is needed most.

The book was created through an open call for photographs, stories and oral histories from residents who lived through the storm and its aftermath. Hundreds of submissions poured in, from first responders and neighbors who helped pull families from danger to snapshots of the rebuilding process that continues today.

The result is a community-published record that offers a ground-level view of how a town isolated by disaster turned inward, and to each other, to survive. It holds over 200 curated images from 48 community members, along with oral histories from those who helped lead the response in the days after the storm.

Million Memory Project and Rebuild Hot Springs Area made the book with local residents. It is the first release from Million Memory Project. 50% of proceeds from this book go directly to Rebuild Hot Springs Area for its continued mission of community recovery and advancement. 

Published
September 27, 2025
Imprint
Million Memory Project
ISBN
979-8-9997863-2-6
Format
Hardcover (Full Color)
Pages
228
Dimensions
8.5 x 8.5 in

About the contributors

Kevin Reese

Kevin Reese

Producer

Kevin Reese is a sixth-generation Madison County native who lives in Hot Springs, North Carolina, and was there when Hurricane Helene struck in September 2024. As Public Information Officer for the Town of Hot Springs and a board director of Rebuild Hot Springs Area, he witnessed the storm and its aftermath firsthand. In the summer of 2025, he set out to gather the photographs and firsthand accounts that became this book.

Kevin is Production & Tech Lead at Million Memory Project, where he builds the software that helps artists turn their lives and work into books. Before that, he spent more than a decade touring with longtime collaborator Pierce Edens, playing Appalachian-infused folk rock.

Rebuild Hot Springs Area

Rebuild Hot Springs Area

Organization

Rebuild Hot Springs Area is a volunteer-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit that stewards resources, coordinates community action, and champions the advancement of the Hot Springs region through opportunity, resilience, preparedness, and recovery.

Formed in the wake of Hurricane Helene, RHSA works on two fronts: Community Recovery, which helps residents and small businesses regain stability after disaster, and Community Advancement, which invests in the town’s physical environment, civic life, municipal capacity, and shared natural assets. RHSA also supports other community-serving organizations whose work advances that mission.

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