How To Help North Carolina: Our Allstar Recommends These Hurricane Helene Food Aid Organizations
Even from afar there are ways to pitch in.
Communities in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee are still reeling more than a week after Hurricane Helene changed their lives forever. In addition to making landfall as a category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of more than 130mph in Florida’s Big Bend region on the Gulf Coast, west of Gainesville, the storm caused unprecedented storm surge and flooding as far south as Sarasota, Florida, and as far north as the mountains of Western North Carolina. Now, many communities are gearing up for Hurricane Milton, and the rest of us are left wondering, "what can I do to help?"
One of our Allrecipes Allstars, Ashley Berger, lives in Asheville near the Grove Park Inn. Fortunately, she did not incur any damage and evacuated to South Carolina the Sunday following the hurricane. We met with her to find out more about how people can help.
“I'm down in South Carolina with some dear friends,” Berger tells Allrecipes. “They have a second home that we are all just moving into and staying in now, which is just the biggest blessing and the most amazing privilege.
“I do feel very guilty about [evacuating], but I also don't need the resources that are being offered right now,” she adds. “It's one less person [for FEMA] to have to check on and take up those resources.”
Once running water is available again in Asheville, Berger plans to return to her hometown to “do whatever I need to do to help, in any capacity.” She shares an estimated timeline for water restoration as 8 to 10 weeks.
How the Community Is Affected
That wait for running water in Asheville and the surrounding communities is tremendously impacting not only on the residents, but local businesses, too, like hotels and restaurants, especially at what is historically one of the region’s busiest times of the year: leaf peeping season.
“The biggest hang up is the water issue,” explains Berger. “You can't have a restaurant, you can't have a business open, without water and the water sources. Downtown Asheville doesn't have very extensive damage—they hardly lost power because it's kind of up on a hill, so that's great—but it still doesn't have water.
“When you think about that, that's 8 to 10 weeks of businesses being shuttered and closed,” she continues. “So that's restaurants, hotels, shops and stores, and in the busiest season of Asheville leaf season. We all know that restaurants run on such a thin margin, and I'm not sure how many will be able to come back from this.”
Talking with her friends, Berger expresses her concern about how many people will need to leave Asheville out of necessity for their livelihood.
“Their homes may not have been damaged, but there's nowhere to work, there's nowhere to offer them stability, and so they're going to need to move somewhere else,” she says. “So then that's fewer people who are able to come alongside the restaurants and businesses that weather the 10-plus weeks or however long it is without water. It gets to be mind boggling.”
How You Can Help
The hospitality industry is a tight community, and they are stepping up for each other in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Berger has seen local chefs she’s met and follows on Instagram, like Chef J Chong and the team at Good Hot Fish, “setting up on their porches and saying, ‘Hey, my neighbors brought this over and we're cooking tonight. Come by.”
If you would like to help the communities impacted by Hurricane Helene, these organizations are on the ground and providing immediate support by way of food, water, personal hygiene products and other necessities.
World Central Kitchen
World Central Kitchen arrived immediately and is working with local chefs, food truck owners, and volunteers to feed not only the locals, but the emergency crews and officials who are on the ground, too.
BeLoved Asheville
Berger also suggests BeLoved Asheville, a local, community-focused organization that works to provide food access, deeply affordable housing, healthcare on the streets and more. “BeLoved Asheville is hyper-local and they’re doing an amazing job of working with larger organizations, but all the money stays in Asheville.”
Manna FoodBank
Manna FoodBank, a member of Feeding America, is a local organization working to end food security in the 16 counties of Western North Carolina. Your donations will contribute toward food, water, baby and infant needs, and material items like personal and feminine hygiene products.
Bounty & Soul
Bounty & Soul, which provides fresh produce and wellness education to the community, started a Helene Relief Fund to support local efforts to provide food and hot meals in Black Mountain and Swannanoa Valley.
Southern Smoke Foundation
Founded and led by current and former food and beverage workers like chefs, servers, bartenders and bussers, the mission of the Southern Smoke Foundation is to “put dollars directly into the pockets of food and beverage workers when it’s needed most.” In addition to an emergency relief fund, the foundation also provides access to a no-cost mental health program.
To say it is going to take a long time for Asheville and the surrounding regions to get back on their feet is an understatement, and volunteer efforts and donations will be needed for sometime to come.
Read the original article on All Recipes.