Michael Hughey is a WNC native, creative artisan, calligrapher, illustrator, instructor, & author, living in Tolland, CT since June 2020. We reached out to him to help us with ways to give back to artists struggling to recover from Hurricane Helene.
“Thank you for asking and for thinking of the craftsmen, artists, and flood-ravaged folks of western NC (WNC)! These folks are pulling together and helping their neighbors, but the task is to recover from the largest destruction ever seen in WNC, surpassing even the catastrophic floods of 1916!
It may help New Englanders to understand the scope of destruction by comparing WNC to New England: the area of WNC is roughly equivalent to VT, NH, MA, CT, & RI combined.”
Here are a few organizations helping that I recommend:
• Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+)
•Support Hope Mill Inc Hurricane Relief
Helicopter Supply Drops in WNC; based in Charlotte with operations out of Hickory Regional Airport: airdrops to areas otherwise unreachable in remote WNC mountains, cut off by flooded rivers, washed out roads, or landslides.
• Donations, equipment, or questions: email: helenedonations@buncombecounty.org Asheville is the county seat of Buncombe County where some of the worst flooding and wind destruction has occurred. It is 50 miles from N to S and 22 miles from Wto E, 660 sq. miles.
• Manna Food Bank : Perhaps the best & largest food bank in the area with many partners throughout WNC. Their main operation on the Swannanoa River was flooded out, but they are back up and operating – all their people survived! Really good people doing very good work!!
• Other agencies can be found on the Blue Ridge Public Radio’s website