ERWIN, Tenn. (WJHL) — Sunday marked the start of a ‘Week of Well Wishes’, with the Unicoi County Long Term Recovery Group holding events all week long leading up to the one-year mark of Hurricane Helene on Saturday.

“These mountains and rivers are really, like, part of my body and part of my heart,” said Polly Horn, who is on the long-term recovery group’s Spiritual Advocacy Group. “Taking this time to reflect on this whole year that’s past, there’s been a lot of rushing around and, like, responding and like, putting out fires and a lot of making haste. So it just feels like, ‘okay. It’s been a year of this, and here we are.'”

Sunday’s event was “Honoring our Mountains and Rivers,” which was held at Uncle Johnny’s. The business is located right by the Chestoa Pike bridge that collapsed during Hurricane Helene, marking that spot the start of the storm for Unicoi County.

“The community of Erwin is incredibly resilient. We’ve been through just incredible times, you know, we’ve lived them now,” Uncle Johnny’s owner, Terry Wise, told News Channel 11. “The community went through so much, and this is where the bridge broke, and it’s sort of all started, and then downstream from here, things were even more traumatic. So, it’s a very fitting place to recognize the one year anniversary of Helene and how far we’ve come since then.”

Overall, Horn said this week is about one thing.

“I feel community is a major theme,” Horn said. “It’s really inspiring and touching, I think, how the community has just really naturally, organically come together to create this like cohesive intention. “

For a list of more events this week, click here.