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TRYON—The Roseland Community Center, which has served Tryon’s Eastside residents for more than 80 years, continued its tradition of service during the aftermath of Helene. The center became a distribution point for food, water and other important supplies. 

“We’ve had outages before, but it’s been a generation since we’ve had an outage that was that severe and that long, so it was very much appreciated by the people,” says Warren Carson, chairman of the center’s board. 

Donated food and supplies came from multiple sources to the Town of Tryon, which in turn took them to the center.

“There were just tons and tons of canned foods, ready-to-eat meals, cleaning supplies, baby supplies, feminine supplies, and then the World Central Kitchen selected us as one of their sites to deliver meals to the community, which went over extremely well,” says Carson. “It was a huge response. We distributed just about everything we had.”

Carson says volunteers from all over the community came to the center to help with the distribution, including some local high school students.

The center also became a Wi-Fi hub, which Carson says was a bit spotty until the Polk County Community Foundation donated Starlink service. Once power was back on, people charged their phones and other devices at the center.

Eastside residents formed Roseland Community Center in 1940 as a place for their children to play since African American children were not allowed to play at Harmon Field during segregation. The building, which was constructed in the late ‘40s, hosts community meetings and other gatherings and can be rented for special events like family reunions and wedding receptions. The center offers year-round programming for seniors, and the Roseland Institute for Summer Enrichment, or RISE, offers summer programs for youth.