JOHN YANG: Hurricane Helene's path of destruction in the mountains of North Carolina devastated one of the region's biggest industries, Christmas tree farming.

Ali Rogin has the story of one family operation that overcame obstacles to get its crop to market, including one special tree that ended up in a special White House.

SAM CARTNER, Cartner's Christman Tree Farm: It has a great color.

I think it's lush and it's a nice looking tree.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): Standing 20 feet tall and 12 feet wide, this Fraser fir tree grew up in the Blue Ridge mountains on the Cartner family farm.

SAM CARTNER: Mom and dad started it in the 50s.

Dad and some other pioneers searched out Christmas trees as an alternative, better cash crop.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): Trees like this take a generation to grow, destined to be cut down.

On this 500 acre farm that Sam Cartner runs with his brothers, it's always bittersweet.

SAM CARTNER: It does strike the chord.

After you've harvested the trees and all you see are stumps, you have to stop and remember what that tree is symbolizing and what it's doing.

That tree is going to a family where they can experience family time and joy.

They can have faith, hope and love.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): This year, faith, hope and love were all some neighbors had left after Hurricane Helene hit.

SAM CARTNER: The first time in my lifetime that I have seen mudslides on the farm or any farms, we've lost about 6,000 trees across our farm.

And it looks just like those areas over there.

That may be about 3 to 4,000 in that one spot.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): Barren hillsides show where saplings should be growing.

But it wasn't just trees that were lost.

So too were lives and livelihoods.

SAM CARTNER: Everyone's heard about all the damage and devastation and horrific events.

And we've just experienced such great generosity from people all over the United States that have given supplies and water and their time to come in and help strangers they didn't even know.

JACOB BIBA, Reporter, Asheville Citizen Times: I think that's been very difficult for a lot of these farmers.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): Jacob Biba is a reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times and covered Hurricane Helene's impact on the local economy.

JACOB BIBA: There's pretty much two industries in those areas.

It's the Christmas tree industry and then the tourism industry.

And Helene devastated the tourism industry.

So being able to fall back and rely on Christmas trees is huge for them.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): One of the main problems after the storm was getting around.

The roads were washed out, making it hard to transport the trees to loading areas.

But the farmers and state and county officials went to work.

JACOB BIBA: It really just the spirit they've shown coming together to get their roads fixed up and get the trees out has been pretty amazing to witness.

JENNIFER GREENE, NORTH CAROLINA CHRISTMAS TREE ASSOCIATION: We harvest between 4 and 5 million Christmas trees annually.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): North Carolina is the second largest producer of Christmas trees in the country, selling $144 million worth of Fraser firs in 2022.

Jennifer Greene runs the state's Christmas Tree Association.

JENNIFER GREENE: The hurricane hit four weeks before harvest season.

It made an already stressful time even much more stressful.

It's going to be a long time before western North Carolina is back and fully operational.

But you know, it's going to happen and honestly, it's happening a lot quicker than I thought.

In a lot of places people are very community oriented and I think that the storm has really brought our communities together.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): And now that community pride is taking up most of the blue room at the White house.

Sam Cartner's 20 foot tall Fraser fir won the national Christmas tree competition.

SAM CARTNER: They were insistent that we find a tree that's about 19 to 20 feet tall, no wider than 12 feet.

That was so that they take out the chandelier in the blue room and the tree has to reach up to the chandelier.

That's where they bring the electricity from to light the lights.

JENNIFER GREENE: This year it's extra special for the fact that it's coming from our area that was so heavily devastated and that we can send a Christmas tree to the White House to represent western North Carolina as a gift to the people.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): This is the 16th tree from North Carolina to make it to the White House.

SAM CARTNER: We want it to represent all these growers and all these families in the mountains of North Carolina.

It's not about the carpenters.

It's about what the Christmas tree represents.

All those good things.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): After this hurricane season, good things made all the better.

SAM CARTNER: I'd say that's perfect.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): For PBS News Weekend, I'm Ali Rogin.