Helene has decimated our local communities surrounding Asheville including the mountain towns of Marshall and Hot Springs that we as a family frequent and love.
Our communities are hurting and it will take years to rebuild.
Many friends and family have asked about how they can help especially if they’re not local to this area. I am building a list of online fundraisers that are grassroots and not affiliated with organized religions.
Rural Organizing and Resilience
ROAR (Rural Organizing and Resilience) is a grassroots, all volunteer led organization formed in Madison County (where we live) in 2017. This group works to strengthen connections and respect among all people in our mountain communities by countering systems of oppression through education, outreach, empowerment and mutual aid.
They have set up mutual aid stations in our local town and are accepting Paypal donations for their efforts.
Beacon of Hope
Beacon of Hope provides food assistance and assistance with clothing and household items since 1997, local to Madison County and surrounding counties.
They typically partner with MANNA foodbank in Asheville to distribute resources to our rural county but the MANNA food bank has suffered its own damages from the hurricane.
Please consider donating directly to Beacon of Hope that is supporting our community right now.
Madison County Animal Shelter
Our local county shelter is run by volunteers and are experiencing an influx of displaced animals of all kinds due to Helene.
They provide much needed care to our furred, feathered and shelled members of the community.
Their donation page is through the county.
Friends of Hot Springs Library
Hot Springs is the iconic AT hiking town that we visited every other weekend and has suffered tremendous loss during this hurricane.
The Friends of Hot Springs Library group is a group of volunteers collecting donations directly contributing to the recovery of this beloved town.
Please mark your donations for Hurricane relief on their donation page.
Community Housing Coalition (CHC)
The CHC is committed to healthy, safe and affordable housing for the communities in Madison County. They facilitate urgent home repairs to low-income residences in need of assistance.
For the next two weeks, the CHC is not accepting new applications for repair assistance not directly related to the hurricane so they can focus on repair assistance for those in dire need today.
Please make your donations directly on their page.
Beloved Asheville
Beloved Asheville was started in 2009 to create a transformational way of life rooted in community and working to create Home, Health, Equity, and Opportunity for all in our mountain home.
Beloved Asheville has been very active during this crisis organizing and distributing essential supplies and food as well as hiker volunteers going out to search for missing people (where vehicles cannot travel).
Please consider making your donations directly to this grassroots group on their page.
These are organizations I have personally researched. I will continue to add more to this page as I come across them.