This past Friday morning 9/29/2024, Tropical Storm Helene dumped over 20" of rain in some areas. The massive amounts of rain in such a short time period caused many creeks, rivers, and lakes to overflow. This caused massive flooding and destruction in many areas of the North Carolina Mountains.
The storm was not selective, affecting most cities and towns throughout Western NC, Georgia and southwest Virginia.
10s of thousands are without power, cell phone service is disrupted and many people are stranded. While nothing like many of our neighbors, we were affected as well as we are in Haywood county, one of the most devastated counties in the mountains.
We want to help and we know you do as well from all the inquires we've received in our Facebook Groups (Blue Ridge Mountain Life and Maggie Valley and Waynesville Life).
This page will tell you how you can help.
Updated: 10/08/2024 - Updates on how donated funds are being used and how they are helping people.
How to help victims of Hurricane Helene
Over the past few days, workers have made an amazing amount of progress on communications, power, gas, food, and necessary supplies. How much progress is really dependent on the location.
Some locations here in Western NC had very little impact from the store, some moderate impact, and some areas are literally devastated. You can learn more about the Hurricane and its impact on Western NC in our Hurricane Helene article.
Help can be provided in a number of ways:
- Financial Donations
- Donating Supplies
- Donating your time.
Financial Donations
There are many ways to donate financially and assisting flooding victims in Western NC. We have a fund for our local area of Haywood County, which includes Waynesville, Maggie Valley, Canton and surrounding areas. You can learn more about our fund below.
Of course, larger organizations are collecting money and local churches. Here is a credible list of places you can donate besides our assistance fund:
- United Way - They have local chapters so you can better control where your donations go, for example, United Way of Haywood County and Asheville and Buncombe County.
- Samaritan's Purse
- Red Cross
- Salvation Army
- The Cajun Navy
There are many others as well, depending on where and how you would like your donations to be handled.
Our Helene Assistance Fund
Our Helene assistance fund is currently directly funds into the Haywood County community, including Maggie Valley, Waynesville and Canton North Carolina.
Initial funds were used to help support feeding the community through Ben's Backdraft BBQ. However, there was little interest initially from storm victims for hot meals. The focus has been moved to feeding first responders and linemen.
Currently, our funds are being used to purchase needed supplies for local distribution centers in Haywood County.
10/8/2024
This week and last week were spent traveling around to the different supply stations, including Maggie Valley, Waynesville, Canton and Crusco NC. Jenn and I would talk to the staff, determine what was most needed, and go get it, using funds you generously donated.
We have literally spent every day this week doing that, and will continue to do so. The folks at Lowes, Walmart, and Ingles have come to know us well and have been incredibly helpful.
Using your funds this past week, we have purchased: Baby supplies, cleaning products and supplies, dehumidifiers, laundry detergent, dishwashing detergent, paper plates, plastic utensils, paper towels, toilet paper, and much more.
These are all products that the supply centers were running low on, or were completely out of.
We will continue to be good stewards of your donated funds, and direct them directly into the community. These photos are shared so you can see we what we are doing with YOUR money.
10/1/2024
This week we have purchased and delivered cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, dish detergent, water, and pet food. We will be talking to the supply centers daily to determine their needs and purchase supplies. See photos above.
We continue to work with local organizations on their financial needs, and will allocate funds locally as appropriate to provide direct assistance to people in need.
Please know that the funds will go directly to assisting flood victims and quickly.
ALL funds will go directly to helping flood victims. You have our word on this.
Supplies for Haywood County
Supplies for Haywood County residents are available at the following locations:
- Jonathan Valley Elementary School - 410 Hall Dr, Waynesville, NC 28785
- Bethel Elementary School - 4700 Old River Rd, Canton, NC 28716
- Haywood Christian Ministries - 150 Branner Ave, Waynesville, NC 28786
- Woodland Baptist Church - 545 Crabtree Rd, Waynesville, NC 28785
- Dellwood Baptist Church - 115 Hall Dr, Waynesville, NC 28785
Many organizations are offering supplies, including local government. But these are the big ones with the most supplies. Supplies are available from 9AM to 6PM, Monday - Friday.
Other NC Counties
Many other counties in Western NC have been devastated by this hurricane, some far worse than our area here in Haywood County. Each county has its own list of supply centers and donation options. It would be far too much for us to list here, but the town and county websites and Facebook pages are providing lots of information on how you can help.
Please visit the individual city/town and county pages to learn more.
