WCG’s Annual 3–Ring Circus | January 29, 2025 | Ring 3: Community Outreach

“Supporting the Save Your Family Treasures Program After Hurricane Helene”
Speaker: Leah Bright, Smithsonian American Art Museum
Co-Author: Brian Michael Lione, Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute
Summary by: Emily Harrison, CIBA Intern at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

In this talk, Bright discussed the efforts and impact of the Save Your Family Treasures program (SYFT) where she and Lione hosted demonstrations for preserving personal belongings impacted by hurricane related flood waters. SYFT is a collaboration between the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative (SCRI) that deploys trained individuals to disaster recovery areas where they offer advice to victims seeking to preserve their important items post-disaster. Bright and Lione were dispatched a mere three-weeks after Hurricane Helene tore through Asheville, North Carolina in 2024.

The impact of the hurricane was varied, as Bright explained, and many were left with damaged personal belongings. Bright and Lione’s work began almost immediately as they spent their first day in the impacted zones, meeting FEMA staff members managing the overall emergency response and serving on SYFT teams and receiving their location assignments for the workshops. Every SYFT workshop took place in a Disaster Recovery Center (DRC), and each one varied greatly. Bright and Lione were assigned to different sites depending on local needs.

Every day presented different challenges and family treasures to discuss, often reflecting the progress made in overall disaster recovery. Bright and Lione, along with the other FEMA staff members, met with the public to demonstrate easy and inexpensive options to care for their family treasures that were impacted by the hurricane. These workshops consisted of anything from demonstrating careful handling and explaining how to safely dry photographs to listing easily accessible materials that could aid in salvage.

Though FEMA offered many extraordinary ways to aid in disaster relief, Bright found her work with the SYFT program gratifying because she was able to utilize both professional and interpersonal skills to support survivors by helping them care for treasures that provide a sense of security and hope.

Attendance for the SYFT lecture: 14 people