How to Support Hurricane Helene Recovery:
These hills still need your help.
April 2025 Update:
Today marks 200 days since Hurricane Helene tore through our region. Please visit
’s page for her post that offers a deep understanding of the changed terrain, where the region now is in recovery, and the host of challenges yet to be addressed. People still need your help and the list of initiatives you’ll find in this post are still out there every day helping the land, their neighbors, and the community as it creeps toward healing and renewal.December Field Notes:
On the Relatively Stable podcast: listen to my conversation with Tamar Reno whose daily love notes from the heart of the Blue Ridge are a source of strength and collective grieving in her community.
My essay on the psychology of giving: Generous to a Fault
In this section you will find a daily updated list of individuals who have slipped through the cracks of available care and need your help directly and immediately. Financial contributions offer autonomy empowerment and hope. By giving you are making sure that someone is seen and that they know the extended, world community cares.
Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church — keeping so many people from evictions. They’re out of money in their fund. Please help.
Hannah Heiser of Transformative Horsemanship, Asheville, NC
And here are community aid workers to follow:
|| Megan Naylor || Beth Trigg || Sheri Barker || Patty Helmsworth || John Piper Watters ||
This list will be constantly evolving and growing as the days/month/years go by, but here are trusted resources for you to financially contribute to the direct aid of people in the swath of Hurricane Helene’s destruction. All levels of subscribers to Stable Roots will soon be receiving a list of small businesses in the region that will need your support to rebuild through purchases, gift certificates, or specific requests from the businesses themselves.
Remember that FEMA does not provide aid to small businesses and the only help available are loans which must be repaid through the Small Business Administration (SBA). To receive a loan, businesses must have proof of income — which many no longer have as of the morning of September 27th when the storm hit.
PLEASE NOTE: people sending direct aid of goods to the region such as clothing, food, and feed for animals are being asked to wait until supply centers are able to distribute and find longterm storage solutions. While the outpouring of generosity is immense, please keep an open mind and a kind heart and realize that just because the thing you want to give is not needed, doesn’t mean there isn’t a need. Contact individual agencies directly to see what is needed TODAY because needs are changing by the minute.
Be sure to check back here often as this list is growing and changing every day as I receive word of direct needs.
To catch up on the storm cutting a path through the farm in September and a heads up about the devastation that has wrecked western North Carolina, check out this post.
It took days for the major news outlets to begin covering the extent of this storm’s destruction. By the time we reached the headlines, social media was fast at work connecting people with missing loved ones and getting pilots in the air to rescue people from the hills and hollers of the mountains. Recovery is tough because this region is so remote. You’ll find many of the links below take you to Facebook — and that’s because so much has been organized there.
These mountains have been my family’s home for generations. Please send help and keep talking about what’s happening here and sharing it with the world. We cannot allow the rebuilding of this place, where entire towns have been destroyed, to fade away with the next news cycle.
Western North Carolina
11/20/24 - Olive Branch Cattle Co. with Haley Polk at the head in Marion, NC is searching for volunteers to help transport hay and other vital supplies to impacted farms and individuals.
North Carolina Board of Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselors: If you are a mental health professional and want to provide services to people in the path of Helene’s destruction, North Carolina has waived its licensing requirements for mental health specialists who are licensed in other states. Click the link for instructions. If you’re in South Carolina and need support as a result of Helene, Canterbury Counseling is offering six free sessions.
Beth Trigg: a powerhouse with an innate talent to connect donors with direct, person-to-person aid for individuals and families rebuilding after total loss. She is daily posting ways you can help and for your aid to go to work immediately. And here is her list of small, local organizations who are doing the largest share of daily, critical work.
Here is a list of free or low-cost licensed mental health professionals offering services to victims of Hurricane Helene.
822,000 acres of timber — 41.1 million trees — were lost in the forests of western North Carolina when Hurricane Helene blew through. Asheville GreenWorks is launching a Tree Reforestation Effort connecting people with trees to plant.
Helene Rebuild Collaborative: “ . . .allocate resources directly to communities that are underserved, isolated and cut off from being able to access them. Due to the terrain and destruction, there is a vast majority of folks that will not receive the critical aid being distributed by these larger community centers.”
Darlin’ Appalachia: Operating through a fiscal partnership with the Oconee Cultivation Project (EIN 81-2994931), Darlin Appalachia facilitates water transportation, funds rescue efforts and transportation of rescued or deceased victims of natural disasters, funds the rescue and boarding and/or delivery of donated items for affected farms’ livestock, and provides funding for the funerals of natural disaster victims.
The Black Mountain Children’s Home: suffered immense destruction and can use all the help you can give.
AVL City Church: daily providing basic needs to the people of Asheville.
Appalachia Service Project: a longstanding initiative that is currently providing critical repair and construction to homes destroyed by the flooding in WNC.
Forca Foundation: a friend of Lynn Carnes who has launched an emergency campaign to provide immediate relief to the families of Lake Lure and Chimney Rock who are devastated by Helene. Text NCSTRONG to 53555 to donate.
Stacia Strong and Tara Davis: organizing deliveries of hay and veterinary medicines that are delivered directly into the hands of people who need it in western North Carolina. They’ve been organizing and delivering to remote regions since roads became passable. Contributions are now tax deductible through Unbridled Sanctuary (86-2505114) a 501c3 headed by Tara.
BeLoved Asheville: an Asheville, NC non-profit before the storm, they are now providing direct relief, hands-on, in the worst hit parts of the city.
Sue Lomenzo: a brilliant point of contact in the region who will be able to steer you to direct needs that will make a significant impact today.
Brooke Chapman: organizing relief her family’s hometown of Spruce Pine and adjoining Bakersville, NC, which are incredibly remote places where pack mule was used to make first contact after the storm.
All Hands with Hearts: has launched a 12 month disaster recovery initiative for Hurricane Helene. They work directly with the individual needs of the communities.
Rutherford Co. Agricultural Relief: western NC farms in the heart of the disaster doing immense things for their community since day one of the storm.
Saluda, NC Downtown Recovery Fund: to support the rebuilding of this tiny mountain town that means so much to so many people. Help businesses like The Purple Onion find a path forward.
Hearts With Hands: an organization in Asheville, NC with a proven track record of partnering with agencies to get aid to people who most need it in crisis.
McDowell County Farm Hurricane Helene Support and Resources: connects farmers in immediate in need with supplies such as hay and grain.
Fleet of Angels: a national, equine specific, coordinated response group that works with federal and state agencies in the immediate after-effects of disasters and more importantly through the LONG road of rebuilding by making sure supplies are available to the farms that need it most.
Upstate South Carolina
While our friends across the border are living a total nightmare, the foothills of South Carolina were decimated in their own way and many of us are humble and not asking for help because so many have lost their cities, homes, and lives in NC. Helene’s path through the Greenville/Spartanburg area have left many people homeless and without food. And those numbers will grow. Read Patricia Carson’s words about how already existing food insecurity is exacerbated by the storm here.
I've received word from someone who works to aid food scarcity in upstate SC area saying the shelves of staple goods in many non-profits serving the community are bare. Many organizations that fed communities pre-storm lost refrigeration and those supplies are slowly becoming restocked, but there is a gap.
I see many posts stating that Greenville is fine and all resources need to go to WNC. And it's true that WNC needs everyone's focus and love right now. But, Greenville was slammed, many are still without power, and people are hungry. Many people have been out of work this week, which compounds the problem. Grocery stores are still meagerly stocked and people who could not afford food before the storm are doubly having trouble finding it now.
From my friend who serves the upstate: “Give local. Don’t hesitate to just call an organization and ask what they need. Food, funds, volunteer hours. We are all very busy right now and yes, we still want those calls. We depend on them. If the person on the phone isn’t 100% polished or perfectly gracious, remember that they are working in crisis conditions, or they may be unused to taking calls from the public. It doesn’t mean that your call isn’t appreciated and necessary.”
Here is a list of resources that need your contributions in my backyard in upstate South Carolina. These organizations need help restocking scarce pantry staples and can always use financial contributions so that they are able to direct supplies and services to the people who need them most.
Canterbury Counseling: is offering six free sessions for those recovering from Helene. This includes first responders, displaced persons, and grief support.
Loves and Fishes: distributes surplus food to individuals and families at the mercy of food insecurity in the upstate. The numbers of hungry people are only going to grow as storm recovery continues. 864-232-3595
LiveWell Greenville: makes huge strides with a small staff. Call and ask what they need.
Triune Mercy Center: with a long track record of providing direct aid to those who are homeless and disadvantaged in the upstate, they have been working overtime to meet the needs of our community that is ripped apart by storm damage.
Project Host: call them and ask what they need. They’ve been working overtime and then some getting food into neighborhoods.
Greenville Meals on Wheels: hasn’t stopped since the storm hit.
Feed & Seed in Judson Mill: have been doing heroic work getting food to where it is needed.
This list will be growing and changing by the hour/day — bookmark it and revisit it and share it so we can reach as many people who are wanting to help as possible. #carolinastrong
Love,
Kim
Thank you for keeping the ongoing need front and center. We are so far away from done that we don't even know what that means.
Kim any updates on how things are in South Carolina? Your post was written almost 2weeks ago. How are the shelves & food?