(Courtesy Gaston College)
RALEIGH — A new report by the Office of the State Auditor of Hurricane Helene Mental Health funds appropriated by the General Assembly to community colleges says the funds were used to buy stress balls, succulent plants and a “Sobriety Bowl.”
“Financial resources tend to become entangled in a web of spending when disaster strikes, which is why our office is working to bring transparency to how hurricane relief funds are spent,” State Auditor Dave Boliek said in a statement. “By keeping lawmakers, stakeholders, and the public informed on hurricane relief spending, we can continue to improve how North Carolina responds to natural disasters.”
The North Carolina Office of the State Auditor’s (OSA) rapid response special report looked at three western North Carolina community colleges’ spending of funds designated for mental health support following Hurricane Helene: Blue Ridge Community College, Gaston College and Wilkes Community College.
All three received money from a $1.25 million allocation of “Expanded Mental Health Support” (EMHS) funds. That funding was part of a larger $16.75 million appropriation to the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS).
As of Dec. 31, 2025, eligible community colleges had collectively spent $464,044, roughly 37% of the allotted EMHS funds. The report says 7,735 students and 2,298 staff have received some form of support through the program.
In addition to stress balls and plants, auditors found the schools charged items to the EMHS billing code for T-shirts and gift sets, flowers, red light therapy, salt therapy, foot detox sessions and guided strolls along nature trails focused on listening to bird songs.
Broken out by institution, Blue Ridge Community College spent $10,570 on 800 wellness journals and $1,651 on succulent plants and pots. Gaston College spent $5,223 purchasing 2,000 rhinoceros-shaped stress balls. Wilkes Community College (WCC) paid $350 for the guided birdwatching excursion.
WCC also drew scrutiny for its Financial Services Department approving EMHS funds to cover pizza, gift cards and event materials for a campus event called the “Sobriety Bowl,” held at the college’s Alleghany Campus on Jan. 28-30, 2025.
The event was held at least once before Hurricane Helene. A Facebook post for a 2019 Sobriety Bowl says it was sponsored by WCC’s Drug and Alcohol Prevention Program, with “free Super Bowl party grub, merchandise,” as well as a “grand prize” of a $25 school bookstore gift certificate.
The audit also identified structural weaknesses in how the colleges tracked and processed their spending.
At WCC, auditors found undated handwritten invoices, which the OSA said reduces transparency and makes it harder to verify when and why purchases were made.
At Gaston College, purchase orders were issued after vendors had already been billed, which the OSA said increases the risk of unauthorized or improper payments.
The audit also raised concerns about Gaston College’s prepayment practices.
The college used more than $21,200 in EMHS funds to pay for its Employee Assistance Program through February 2028 and an additional $14,040 for a mental health app with coverage running through May 2027. Gaston College reported both full amounts as current-month expenditures in documentation submitted to the NCCCS office for reimbursement despite those payments covering services for multiple future fiscal periods.
In the report’s conclusion, auditors wrote that the spending practices identified “appear incongruous with the General Assembly’s intent for the use and treatment of EMHS Funds and the accounting requirements set forth by the North Carolina Statewide Accounting Policy,” adding that the practices “increase the risk of the Colleges’ reporting inaccuracies and weakened financial accountability over their respective EMHS Funds.”
Blue Ridge Community College agreed to reclassify expenditures for sensory tools, succulent plants and pots, and committed to limit future use of EMHS funds to mental health services only.
Gaston College defended the rhinoceros-shaped stress balls, arguing they were part of a broader mental health and emotional well-being initiative tied to Hurricane Helene-related stress. The college pushed back on the audit’s conclusions regarding its prepayment practices and disputed the associated recommendations. The school also admitted it operates without a dedicated procurement officer.
WCC took issue with the birdwatching finding, arguing that nature-based observation is a recognized therapeutic method for managing stress and anxiety. Despite that objection, the college agreed to reclassify the $350 payment to the program’s leader under student activity funds, as recommended by the OSA.
On the “Sobriety Bowl” expenditures, WCC agreed with the audit’s findings and said those costs would also be reclassified.
The full report is available on the OSA website.