Hurricane Helene Response

This week our complete focus is on the health of our community in Appalachia and across the Southeast who have been affected by Hurricane Helene. As you probably already know, millions of people’s lives have been upended and some tragically cut short. Residents are still without power, clean water, food, medicine, and other essentials, and many still do not have access to roads. These situations will take months if not years to resolve, and the scars of this storm will remain for generations. Our co-founder, Nikki McClane lived in Asheville for ten years and continues to travel there to be with her second family on a regular basis. Her heart is broken, and she has asked for your support in providing assistance to the community there. We have compiled a list of organizations and efforts worthy of your support.

Mutual aid is the care we provide to each other out of solidarity. We know that while today it may be Asheville, these things can happen anywhere at any time. Many large governmental and non-profit institutions unfortunately fall short of the demands of these kinds of situations. But at the ground-level, we know how to take care of each other. As a community, we wade into the gap and give what we can. We can’t stop the storms, but we can make a difference.

• Mutual Aid Disaster Relief is a grassroots disaster relief network based on the principles of solidarity, mutual aid, and autonomous direct action.
• Operation Air Drop is bringing needed supplies to communities who are cut off from road access.
• Next Level Disaster Relief provides short and long term response and recovery services to communities impacted in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, before, during and after any tragic disaster.
• North Carolina Community Foundation and many other organizations across North Carolina are collaborating to support Western North Carolina after the devastation brought by Hurricane Helene.  Community foundations know the organizations on the ground and can direct dollars to them.
• Beloved Asheville creates innovative solutions to some of the toughest challenges we face as a community. Currently (and always) providing food, water, and needed supplies to those in need.
• World Central Kitchen is first to the frontlines, providing fresh meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises.
• Water Mission builds safe water sanitation, and hygiene solutions in developing nations and disaster areas. Water Mission deployed their disaster response team to the hardest-hit areas in western North Carolina.
• The McDowell Local Food Advisory Council and Foothills Food Hub are dedicated to ensuring that our neighbors in McDowell County have access to essential food and clean water in the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene.
• Brother Wolf Animal Rescue in Asheville, NC is an animal shelter that has been flooded. Donations urgently needed.
• Grassroots Aid Partnership provides healthy food and aid to vulnerable communities in crisis.
• The Carolina Emergency Response Team exists to assist first responders and citizens during natural disasters around our region through providing life saving assets and man power when assets and man power are stretched thin.
• Healthcare Ready’s RxOpen ensures access to critical medications during disasters.
• Day One Relief supports BIPOC and LBGTQ+ organizations that are often ignored when it comes to recovery efforts after major storms like Hurricane Helene.

The Art Garden in River Arts District has been completely destroyed! So many artists (including several of whose art we sell at 1881 Salt Sanctuary) have lost their livelihood, art supplies, artwork, and inventory!  Please help support them!