How many federal employees does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Zero. They’ll just wait for the Amish to do it for them.
Amish volunteers have reportedly stepped in to rebuild the town of Chimney Rock, NC, following devastation by Hurricane Helene. The hurricane hit the Southeastern U.S. in late September 2024, wreaking destruction from Florida to Ohio. The death toll numbered over 230 people, according to reports.
A video shared on X identifies the volunteers reconstructing Chimney Rock’s infrastructure as Amish members of the Great Needs Trust.
🚨#BREAKING: Chimney Rock NC officials have confirmed that a mind-blowing 2,000 members of the Pennsylvania Amish Community have been quietly rebuilding the town’s homes, businesses, and bridges…
…for 6 months straight
GOD BLESS THE AMISH!! pic.twitter.com/DfwOFLyO8Q
— Matt Van Swol (@matt_vanswol) April 22, 2025
“We wanted to help the people that had the disaster … our heart just felt drawn to come help,” says one interviewee.
“It just fills my heart with joy, just … watching people get their life back again,” says another.
But employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had more important things on their mind than rebuilding homes or administering aid: politics. FEMA listed equity as the first of three “ambitious goals” in their 2022-2026 strategic plan. The agency spent nearly $1 billion on migrant services. They dumped an additional $12 million into increasing “equity” in disaster response by investing in “underserved communities,” including “LBTQIA people.” (RELATED: ‘We Need To Do Better’: Vance Torches FEMA For Hamstringing Local Hurricane Recovery Efforts)
The media scoffed at Trump’s suspicions that the federal government and the former governor of North California were “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas” following Hurricane Helene. But during Hurricane Milton, one FEMA supervisor reportedly instructed aid workers to “avoid homes advertising Trump.”
EXCLUSIVE: Internal messages obtained by The Daily Wire show a FEMA official ordered relief workers in Florida not to help houses with Trump signs pic.twitter.com/o73ejUuYUG
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) November 8, 2024
Trump signed an executive order in January to investigate FEMA in light of concerns of political bias. Ideological capture is a problem. So is bureaucracy writ large. The federal government functionally operates as a large-scale jobs program. “Efficiency” and “efficacy” are antithetical to this end. Many have presumed as much, but it took the Amish to prove it.
Follow Natalie Sandoval on X: @NatalieIrene03
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