By Anya Petrone Slepyan for The Daily Yonder.
Broadcast version by Eric Tegethoff for North Carolina News Service Service for the Public News Service/Daily Yonder Collaboration

In the 1930s, women employed by the Works Progress Administration rode pack horses through the mountains of eastern Kentucky, bringing books to rural residents in hard-to-reach places. Nearly a century later, Kirsten Crawford Turner is carrying on that tradition, with the help of a truck and a U-haul rather than a horse and saddle bags.

Turner grew up in Shelby, North Carolina in the Appalachian foothills, an area pummeled by Hurricane Helene in September 2024. Though she now lives in Greenville, South Carolina, she saw the extent of the damage the hurricane caused during frequent trips up the mountain to bring food and supplies to family members in the Asheville area.

"I saw all the devastation and I thought, 'what can I do?'" Turner said in an interview with the Daily Yonder. "I cannot operate heavy machinery. I cannot rebuild this whole area. What can I do that would be impactful and make a difference?"

As a military wife and mother of three, Turner has been through difficult seasons herself, and said that she always found solace in reading. She had also learned about the historic packhorse librarians from a number of books, including Kim Michele Richardson's The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. So she thought, why not take books to people like a modern-day packhorse librarian?

She began by asking friends and neighbors for gently used books that she could deliver on her trips up the mountain. The project grew quickly in the months following the hurricane.

"It started with one box of books on my porch," Turner said. "Now I have thousands of books [to give away] in my house."

Books for Burnsville

On November 2, 2024, Turner and her husband pulled into the parking lot of the West Burnsville Baptist Church in rural Yancey County, North Carolina. Along with a handful of volunteers, including Turner's parents, they started passing out thousands of books that had been donated from around the country.

More than 500 people attended the event, including Burnsville residents Jamie Black and her 10-year-old daughter Jenavieve, a voracious reader who had been anxiously awaiting the event for weeks. The family had been without power for a month, but Black had seen a post about the event on Facebook and thought it would help her daughter, who like other children in the area, had missed a significant amount of school.

"Books take you away on an adventure," Jenavieve said in an interview with the Daily Yonder. "It doesn't matter what's going on around you if you're reading a good book."

That's one of the ideas behind the 21st Century Packhorse Librarian project, according to Turner.

"I think [reading] gives people a respite from their own story, so they can really process and heal from their trauma more gently," Turner said.

More than 100 people in North Carolina were killed by Hurricane Helene, and the September storm caused a record-breaking $59.6 billion in damages, according to the state budget office. Over 5,000 homes will need to be rebuilt, with thousands of businesses damaged or closed as a result of the storm. North Carolina Governor Josh Stein is urging state legislators to increase recovery spending, even as President Trump, who visited North Carolina in late January, is enacting plans to dissolve the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Since October, Turner has organized events in nine communities in western North Carolina, and given away more than 9,000 books for free. The books are arranged by age group, and there is no limit to how many books people can take.

"I don't put a limit on it. Because say someone is taking four tote bags full of books - that person could have lost their whole house and all their books," Turner said.

Donations have poured in from across the country, Turner said, with people driving from as far as Texas and Ohio to deliver books. People can also donate books through Turner's Amazon wishlists, as well as by mail.

A number of children's authors associated with Christian publishing and media organizations such as Story Warren and Rabbit Room have donated books. Turner, who is Christian, has also made sure to keep high-quality, large-print bibles in stock.

Though she isn't able to read everything that comes through, she tries to curate her selections. She avoids books with sexually explicit content and references to the occult, and prioritizes books that she considers to be healing and uplifting, especially classic literature. Many of the books on her wishlists are the same as those distributed by the original packhorse librarians nearly a century earlier.

"There's a lot to say about the power of story in the classics," Turner said. "Bless those kids, they love Diary of a Wimpy Kid and I can't stand that book. I bring it for them, but I also try to get a good book in their hands as well."

Bearing Witness

According to its Facebook page, the primary mission of the 21st Century Packhorse Librarian project is to "distribute quality literature, free of charge, throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains, ensuring that individuals and families - especially in rural and remote areas - have access to great books."

But Turner has found that her role goes beyond handing out books to those who want them. She spends most of her time at each event talking to people, and hearing their stories. This is both rewarding and challenging, Turner said.

"I get to carry a little bit of their burdens for them, and hear how much bringing books means to them. But it's also a bit emotionally overwhelming at times, because we hear not only stories from the storm, but all sorts of things we wouldn't imagine we'd hear," she said.

Turner also uses her platform on Facebook to bring awareness to the destruction in communities she visits, posting pictures of places like Marshall, North Carolina, that were devastated by the storm. She says bearing witness to the communities' distress is part of her mission to keep attention on the ongoing recovery efforts.

"The rest of the world has moved on with their lives, and people aren't thinking about it anymore," Turner said. "I don't want anyone to feel forgotten."

Recovering from disasters like Helene takes years, but Turner is in it for the long haul.

"People keep asking me how long I plan to do this. And the answer is always 'as long as God wants me to," Turner said.

And though the project was born as a response to the hurricane, Turner feels the books she brings help address a deeper need in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

"The more I hear, the more I realize that these books aren't just disaster relief, they're life relief."


Anya Petrone Slepyan wrote this article for The Daily Yonder.


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Indiana lawmakers paused action this week on a bill which aims to prevent crashes caused by dangerously overgrown rural intersections after concerns arose about liability.

The bill originated after Riley Settergren, 17, died in a 2017 collision at a Hancock County intersection.

Jay Settergren, his father, testified Monday before lawmakers, urging stronger rules to prevent similar tragedies.

"Just days before his senior year, Riley was taken from us by a piece of farm machinery that could not see at an intersection because it was obstructed by corn," Settergren recounted. "They had to move out further into the road. The truck Riley was a passenger in was struck. Riley was killed instantly."

The current proposal would mandate property owners or renters near rural intersections clear all vegetation or obstacles above three feet, ensuring drivers can see approaching traffic. However, farm groups oppose the measure, citing liability risks and potential loss of productive farmland.

After Riley's death, his family created a foundation honoring their son, placing caution signs at intersections statewide to alert drivers to the risks near farmland. Riley's father stressed to lawmakers while signs help, permanent visibility improvements require enforceable legislation.

"We need to move to the next level," Settergren urged. "We need help to pass this putting responsibility on the landowners and the lessees to make sure that they are maintaining their corners, and their crops, and their properties."

Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, said legislators intend to amend House Bill 183, shifting emphasis away from strict sightline triangles, toward maintaining existing road right-of-ways.


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The future of a big carbon capture project in the Midwest was thrown off balance after a new South Dakota law was adopted. Rural property owners made a big push for the policy and their organizing is getting noticed.

South Dakota's governor just signed a bill prohibiting eminent domain for carbon dioxide pipelines. It is in response to a proposed line where the company behind it has not secured all the voluntary land agreements it needs. Worried landowners found sympathetic ears in the Legislature.

Sarah Jaynes, executive director of the Rural Democracy Initiative, said outcomes like these reflect the mindset of smaller communities when big projects come their way, potentially affecting their way of life.

"Rural people are not in the habit of fighting things," Jaynes pointed out. "They're in the habit of taking a close look at what's proposed for their communities after decades of exploitation."

She is referring to corporations outsourcing jobs from rural areas, as well as agricultural firms wanting to add larger animal feedlot operations. Jaynes noted the decline of local news outlets is likely playing a role in how communities are responding. Without access to key information, residents are enhancing their coordination to have a bigger voice.

The multistate carbon pipeline is proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions, which wants to capture ethanol plant emissions and store them underground. It touts economic and environmental benefits but some skeptics see it as a power grab, especially if objecting landowners are forced to let it run along their property through eminent domain.

Jaynes explained in a broader sense, rural residents are not confined to narratives about what they care about.

"They want to make sure that they have clean air and water and access to nature," Jaynes emphasized. "They want to take care of their land."

Such sentiments have surfaced in polling from the Rural Democracy Initiative.

As for the Summit project, the new law might lead to a legal challenge. Summit has won permit approval in other states and is trying again in South Dakota. But the uncertainty, along with the land restrictions, could make it harder to begin construction. The governor insists the action will not kill the project, calling it an "opportunity for a needed reset."


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Later this month, on March 26, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that challenges the constitutionality of a federal fund that aids rural broadband service.

South Dakota advocates say a negative outcome could be devastating for customers.

A conservative organization brought the case, hoping to end a Federal Communications Commission fee that flows into what's known as the Universal Service Fund.

It provides $8 billion a year for telecommunications programs geared toward underserved populations. That includes high-speed internet service in rural areas.

Kara Semmler, general counsel and executive director of the South Dakota Telecommunications Association, said she worries about the impact if the challenge is successful.

"Children will be missing out on educational opportunities," said Semmler, "businesses will lose their competitiveness."

Industry groups say rates for customers, benefiting from the fund, will double if it's struck down.

The plaintiffs contend the fee mechanism used to prop up the fund is more like a tax, meaning Congress should have the oversight.

Semmler said shifting that power would result in funding uncertainty for an industry that relies on long-term planning.

Cellphone service providers and other telecom companies pay the fee that's at the center of the legal argument. Those costs are passed along to consumers across the country through their monthly bills.

Semmler said it's a small price to pay to maintain critical broadband infrastructure in rural pockets.

"It's that ongoing operation, maintenance, and affordability of the product," said Semmler. "It does no good to have infrastructure in the ground if it becomes unaffordable for South Dakota consumers to use."

Semmler said they've had productive conversations with South Dakota's Congressional delegation about "Plan B" strategies.

But she acknowledged the budget-cutting tone in Washington D.C. right now, while adding it would be hard for state government to fill any sudden funding gaps.




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