I have lived, worked, and/or owned a business in Asheville, NC, for 28 years. The enormity of the unfathomable decimation and devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina becomes more apparent daily.

Personally, I was trapped in my vehicle for 5 hours during the worst of the storm as 30-40+ (hard to count them all) massive trees fell all around me, 3 on the vehicle I was in, and 8+ on the home. Buried under trees for 5 days, a neighbor I'd not before met and his two young sons appeared with chainsaws and helped make a path out. I hand-shoveled a new driveway: the only way out. Two vehicles buried by trees, by the Grace of God -All That Is- were spared significant damage: a broken windshield and a couple of dents, but still can be driven!

My home is uninhabitable, an entire section and its contents completely destroyed. I have been displaced, staying in a friend's rental home and must relocate by 6 November.  

I have an 80-year old friend/neighbor/landmate of nearly 30 years who is camping out in the ruins of his home with only an oil lamp, not willing to leave the home to vagrants/looters. The chimney is damaged, so no fireplace and temperatures are dropping now to the 30s Fahrenheit at night as I type this, so getting power restored is paramount. The home was so ravaged that the electric meter base itself was destroyed and has to be replaced by a licensed electrician and inspected by the County before power can be restored.

He, as many American elders, lives off his Social Security only which is less than $1000 per month, more than half of which pays his mortgage. He is also under-insured for this catastrophic event. 

We are all a bit stunned here in the aftermath of this storm, and it's hard to even begin to wrap our minds around what we need. As a creative entrepreneur, on my own since age 14, I mentor young adults. I've been available to many during the last few weeks as they process the trauma and changing life events unraveling daily. In a conversation with a 20 year old whom I mentor, and have known since birth, we determined that he and other young adults can assist the elders, such as my landmate and neighbours, restore their quality of life. As stressful as this is for the young adults, they cannot even begin to imagine how it must be for those less fortunate having to deal with this aftermath. Their hearts reach out to those who have worked their entire lives for what is now gone. They will learn much in this process. as they volunteer to help the elders. It is quite beautiful to witness the wisdom of the elders meet the eager hearts of these young adults..

We have been asked what others can do to help, so we are making it possible for you to help us here. With your contributions, we will be able to stabilize our own ravaged infrastructure and then help others who are in need of rebuilding, as there are so many that we may never see the end of this in our lifetime. We can only start here and now. 

We greatly appreciate your prayers and the Love from your dear hearts. Monetary contributions do help ease burdens. Prayers and Love are Eternal wellsprings. Thank you! 

What your monetary contributions will help pay for initially and so far:to assist the first elder friend and our collective stabilization:

• Electrician bill $1500 to restore meter base so that power to be restored to one section of the home. 

  UPDATE: I was able to accomplish this and restored power to one section of the home

• Insurance deductible: $2000 (the damage to his home far exceeds the entire insurance policy coverage).  

 UPDATE: I've met with insurance adjuster and now awaiting the next steps

• Storage unit bills saving household items from damaged property: $590 per month 

UPDATE: I have paid October and November is now due

• Tree work estimates are $40,000+ 

UPDATE: I was able to get some tree work done from volunteers, but there are SO MANY fallen trees that it will require quite a bit more work, as there are massive piles of debris now moved about the property, but not removed.

* Roofing estimate $15,000+

UPDATE: significant damage to the entire roof has made it impossible for crews to assess the damage completely so far. A crew brought in a crane to tarp the roof, as it is not safe to walk on and need structural repair 

• Demolition of section of home that is completely destroyed by an oak tree, wind and rain, plus rebuilding it completely $unknown

• Other monthly bills amid abrupt loss of my personal business that I’ve owned for 21 years. I was still rebuilding since the 2020 Covid shutdown, and everything I rebuilt was wiped out by Helene so my financial reserves for this business are quite depleted: $780 / $550 / $620 / $490 / $2649 / $944 / $1860 and more!

Applying for disaster assistance though Congressional funding is currently paused.

* Relocation costs from 6 Novermber onwards, as I must relocate from temporary housing

***PLEASE NOTE: if you see typos herein, please understand that I have edited and saved this multiple times but it goes awry somehow as I catch many typos after correcting them...not sure if this is due to my still faulty connections to the internet due to the storm or if it is the platform itself***