It’s hard to put into words what Asheville means to us.

Even though our company has evolved over the years and our team has expanded into the Triangle, Asheville is our home - our beginning. For many on our team, Asheville is the place where we grew up, where we’ve started our families, and where we’ve formed community. It’s our roots, our story, and it will be a piece of our hearts forever.

Hurricane Helene has caused unfathomable destruction and loss to our beloved city and the greater region of Western North Carolina. And while it has been an overwhelming nightmare to live through this tragedy, we find hope.

We’ve seen our community rise up and come together with a resilience that has been nothing short of awe inspiring. People sharing food and water with their neighbors, checking in on each other, helping clear fallen trees on homes and roads, and doing all they can to pick each other up and keep going even when it feels impossible.

For those of us on the team who live in Asheville, we’d like to give a heartfelt thank you to all who have checked in on us, it has meant so much as we face what’s ahead. It’s going to be a long road to recovery and to rebuild all that has been lost, but we know we can. And we will.

We’ll keep fighting through the tears, the grief, and the unknown, because this place and this community is worth it.

We’d like to ask - whether you’ve visited Asheville to enjoy its food, culture, or mountain adventure, or you just feel inspired to give - to please consider donating to some of the reputable organizations who are working on the ground right now to make a difference. Here’s how you can help:

Support individual families, organizations, and rescue efforts on GoFundMe

The State of North Carolina has established a Disaster Relief Fund to help with immediate needs. Click here to learn more.
Many nonprofits are also accepting donations, including the United Way of North Carolina and the Salvation Army.
Food banks are teaming up with Feeding the Carolinas to deploy disaster relief funds and supplies. You can donate here
Support Hope Mills hurricane relief in their GoFundMe
To get involved and help with drop-off reliefs, visit the group’s Facebook page
If you have donations, equipment, or have questions about specific needs, please email: helenedonations@buncombecounty.org
If you want to volunteer, please email: helenevolunteers@buncombecounty.org
The American Red Cross Western North Carolina Chapter serves a population of more than 775,000 people in the counties of Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania and Yancey. Find out how to help here.
Samaritan's Purse mobilizes staff and equipment and enlists thousands of volunteers to provide emergency relief to areas focused on Buncombe County, which includes Asheville, Black Mountain, Montreat, and Swannanoa.

For so many, this experience has absolutely shaken us to our core.

“These past 10+ years I have lived in Asheville, I have never experienced anything like Hurricane Helene. I had heard stories of the infamous 1916 flood that took out the River Arts District, but it was always a distant memory and a now faded scar on the land. No one ever imagined anything worse than that event, so our mountain town was not prepared for the level of destruction that came with Helene. We thought, at most, we would hunker down for a day without power, as is what usually happens during the winter storms. As I walked around my community, I saw power lines down, cars and homes completely crushed by trees, and our roads completely blocked by debris or fallen trees, some roads completely washed away. Every other telephone pole seemed to have snapped in half.” - Kirsten

“I was born and raised in Asheville, and I remember hurricane Ivan coming through 20 years ago (when I was 10 years old), causing flooding in Biltmore Village, power out for a week, and school being canceled. But the depths of destruction from Hurricane Helene is a thousand times worse and something I never thought possible for this region. I love this city and these mountains so much it is heartbreaking to see a place so dear go through such unimaginable tragedy.” - Jenny

Our mountain community is strong and resilient. We will rebuild, but it will take so much care and support to get there. To those who can give, we will be forever grateful. Thank you for your donations, your volunteer time, and your kind messages. It’s your help and support that is going to help us get through this.

And to Asheville, we love you. Stay strong.

From Destruction, We Find Hope