Greetings from MEDINA Ohio

IN OCTOBER 2024, Western North Carolina lay battered and sodden from the howling winds and relentless rain of Hurricane Helene. Meanwhile, 500 miles north, in Medina, Ohio, a group of guardian angels started planning a surprise.

- BY Caroline Fanning

Rather than shipping supplies down, the plan was to ship people up for a special event called the Promise of Christmas. A fleet of buses would collect 200 Carolinians, some of whom had lost everything, and bring them to Medina, a small city some 30 miles south of Cleveland, for a weekend of holiday magic.