He did rebuild that

Posted on August 27, 2012 at 11:11 am, by

I saw this story (video link) this morning on WRAL about an Aurora, N.C., seafood business, Carolina Seafood, that was “nearly washed away” by Hurricane Irene but rebuilt by owner Vance Henries. He initially had to lay off 60 workers in the wake of the hurricane, but over the last year he’s hired back nearly 50. A few items stood out:

“You have somewhat a responsibility to the community,” Carolina Seafood owner Vance Henries. “It’s not all about me. It’s about other people and doing what’s right for them.” …

On Aug. 27, 2011, Category 1 Irene perched over North Carolina for more than 12 hours, pushing the storm surge farther inland than previous hurricanes. In all, it caused more than $1.2 billion in damage in more than a third of North Carolina’s 100 counties.

Carolina Seafood was among the devastated homes and businesses.

“I just went to my knees and cried,” Henries remembered seeing the damage for the first time. “Walls were busted in. We had trees, floating trees, that had come in like torpedoes and just took walls out.” …

But after a tough year, Henries said he’s proud to have rebuilt his business without taking a single dime in government aid.

“We take what we can get. I know the good Lord will provide for us,” he said. “We’ll stay right here as long as we can.”

Here is WRAL’s report a year ago about Henries and the devastation to Carolina Seafood.

Written by

Jon Sanders (twitter.com/jonpsanders) is Director of Regulatory Studies at the John Locke Foundation. A columnist for TownHall.com, Sanders has also been published in The Wall Street Journal, National Review, ABC News online, FrontPage Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, the Philadelphia Inquirer and numerous newspapers throughout North Carolina. A native of Garner, N.C., Sanders has been an adjunct instructor in economics at North Carolina State University, and he holds a masters degree in economics with a minor in statistics and a bachelors degree in English literature and language from N.C. State.

One comment

  1. Good story showing how true economic growth happens. An individual sees the opportunity for the profitable use of resources and puts them to work (or as in this case, back to work) in a way that produces more value (as indicated by consumer purchases) than costs (as measured by the money paid to workers and suppliers). Contrast that with the Washington idea that economic growth happens when government officials decide to embark upon vast spending programs to “increase aggregate demand.”

    Comment by George Leef on August 27, 2012 at 11:40 am

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