Hurricane Helene and How to Help by Jenn McKinlay

JENN McKINLAY:  Over the past few days, I'm sure everyone has been watching the horrific destruction Hurricane Helene  caused in the southeast. For those of us with family there, it has been doubly worrisome. Yesterday, I received this text from my cousin Sue. Hearing the description of what is happening in Asheville from someone I know (who like me grew up in CT and knows hurricanes) made it all that much more devastating.

"I'm sorry for not responding. We had zero cell service. Just got it back. At home, we have no electricity, water, and originally cell service. It's hard to describe how bad this is. The mountain was destroyed. Roads washed out, sinkholes opened up taking them out. In ground services hanging in air over the sink hole. A lake developed between our house and our neighbors. Took out half our road. Trees blocking practically every road. Seemed to take down the power with them everywhere they fell, transformers destroyed. Water mains gone. But we got a generator through the goodness of a stranger, waited in line for 6 hours to get gas, and got it running. So it took four days, but we now have 4 cases of drinking water, and the frig powered, and a one burner induction plate. We can flush toilets with rain water. We luckily had just bought two galvanized tubs 6x2x30". They filled to the top during the storm! 30 " of rain!!! It's mind boggling!

Anyway, all to say it's very primitive, but we are surviving just fine.  We've lost whole towns- just gone- so what we are dealing with is minor in the scheme of things."

The line that hit me was "The mountain was destroyed." How is that even possible? But of course being hit with 30 inches of rain (or more) answers that question. 

The Reds' former contributor and friend Kaye Wilkinson Barley is safe and our beloved Malaprops bookstore/cafe has survived (although they're closed until further notice). But as my cousin said, entire towns have been destroyed. For those of you who want to help but don't know how, Blue Ridge Public Radio published a fantastic list of ways to help Western North Carolina.

Blue Ridge Public Radio - Hurricane Relief

Also, one of favorites is there and serving meals already:

 World Central Kitchen - Chef Andre in my personal hero and Hub and I have been supporting his relief missions for years.

The Reds' personal assistant Christie Conlee is doing some boots on the ground assistance for those who need help in Tennessee. She'll be taking a truck into the affected area full of desperately needed supplies, including any books that the book community wants to send to those poor folks stuck in shelters for the foreseeable future. You can send any books you'd like to the address below and Christie will get them to those in need.

Christie Conlee - Hurricane Relief

P.O. Box 124

Beechgrove, TN 37018

And for other areas, here's a list provided by FEMA of Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster :

• Alabama - Alabama VOAD (alvoad.org).
• Florida - FLVOAD (wpengine.com).
• Georgia - Georgia VOAD (gavoad.org). 
• Kentucky - Kentucky Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (kentuckyvoad.org). 
• North Carolina - North Carolina Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (ncvoad.org).
• South Carolina - SCemd.org/recover/volunteer-and-donate/.
• Tennessee - Tennessee VOAD (tnvoad.org),

For any readers in the disaster areas, please know that we're thinking of you! And for anyone with more recommendations for how to help, please mention them in the comments. Thank you! Be safe, everyone!

For those of you who have survived natural disasters of any kind, what did you need the most? What would you suggest people do if they want to help?