I don’t believe I have ever had a harder time finding words.
My heart is too broken.
My heart has always been at home in these hills, and I find my grief reflected when I
look at them now. Their rolling blue landscapes ripped apart.
Brown slashes- like whip-marks- stand out against the green, yellow, red and orange of
our breathtaking autumn views.
Just over one week ago, the mountains fell around us.
Our community has reacted to this tragedy to the best of our abilities. Moment to
moment, isolated from each other and from the outside world, we’ve come together in
our grief and our terror to share resources and bits of information.
We have found incredible support in one another.
Just over a week ago, standing floodwaters and mud covered our building. One week
ago, my kids found a crawdad happily meandering through the muck on our pantry floor.
They named him Steve and returned him to the riverside, while I cried silently nearby,
fearing the worst for our little pantry & cafe by the river.
We have cried so many tears. But every day that passes, there is a bit less grief and a
little more hope. There are tears of joy, as people reunite with loved ones. There are
tears of gratitude as strangers remind us of the goodness in people. And there is so
much love.
Casting Bread and the offices of Faithbridge United Methodist Church suffered severe
flood damage when the Middle Fork of the New River swelled and surged last Friday
afternoon as Hurricane Helene struck WNC. We were more fortunate than so many.
This will be a long and hard, road but I believe with all my heart that if we walk it
together, we will come through it stronger.
Casting Bread is committed to continuing to serve our community to the very best of our
ability as we repair and rebuild. We will keep listening to the people who also call this
land home and work to address their needs. We will adapt as this nightmare progresses
and we will always share food, compassion and community, just as we have for
the past eighteen years.
We need your help with this, now more than ever. When we are able, we will find a way
to express our gratitude for all you have done. But we will also need your support next
week. And in a month, and in a year. The people struggling to get by before this will need so
much support and the people who had, but have now lost everything, will need the
same support; Helene didn’t discriminate.
We have a long and hard road ahead of us, but with your help we CAN come through this with more compassion for each other and as a STRONGER community. Keep reading for ways to help...
We love you all so much,
Clara
*****
***Until renovations are complete, we will operate from the front doors of
Faithbridge UMC which is right next door to our building. For now, and as
supplies allow, we continue to be there every day from 10am-3pm, distributing
supplies, groceries, electric access, water, hygiene, cleaning, household, baby
supplies, etc.
We are still in need of donations of all kinds (specific wish list below) and of
volunteers. We don’t know how long we will be without our kitchen, but we still
plan to offer hot lunches around 1pm daily.
We don’t have consistent phone service on site, calls and texts are unreliable.
Internet access is even worse and further up Aho Road, my own home, along with
many others, is still without electricity.
Please forgive our lack of responses to your messages, we DO feel your support.
We are overcome with gratitude for each of you who has reached out, asked how
you can help, donated, dropped by, baked muffins, shoveled mud, sent items or
volunteers our direction, shared and reposted online, and goodness I could go
on!
PLEASE, keep sharing our story wherever you can, keep following along with our
sporadic social media updates, keep listening, keep dropping by. We need you to
be our connections to our greater community as we begin to rebuild here at
home.
WAYS TO HELP:
FOOD: If you are interested in helping coordinate/cook/providing/grilling a meal for
around 30 people, please let us know by stopping by and talking to either Clara, Pastor
Ben or Associate Pastor Hopper. One of us should be there daily.
DONATE: There are so many places in need of financial support (including Casting
Bread). Financial donations help ensure the long term viability of these organizations that are spread so thin today. Offering help to anyone in need is what we exist to do ALWAYS. As we stretch to meet today's needs, we need your help continuing to do so for the long haul.
Donate to LOCAL organizations in the areas most affected. Donate to GoFundMe’s for individual families to rebuild. Donate to your favorite businesses or buy from their online platforms or call and purchase a gift card (and even better, donate that gift card to a local non-profit, they can spend it on supplies, or hot food or other needs!)
Donate to local churches regardless of your religious affiliation -these and Volunteer Fire Dept’s are the biggest community resource hubs right now. I’ve included a list below of orgs and churches I personally vouch for in our community.
SHARE: Although the people of Appalachia are accustomed to being excluded from
“civilization” we, like everyone else, have become dependent on our connections to
the outside world. Lack of internet and phone have cut us off from each other and from
you. So when you see our posts, SHARE them everywhere. Don’t let us be forgotten.
STAY: Just stay with us. This rebuild will last years. And we already began the ascent
from a place of historic poverty and lack of resources. These are not wealthy
communities. Please, when the media dies down and leaves, we still need you.
NEEDS:
Flashlights
Batteries
Camp stoves
Propane tanks for camp stoves & gas lanterns
Epi-Pens
Chewable Benadryl
First-Aid kits
Canned foods
Can-openers
ORGS & CHURCHES:
(these are only a few of the amazing places working here)
Casting Bread, F.A.R.M Café, Hospitality House NWNC, Hunger & Health
Coalition, Community Care Clinic, Watauga Humane Society, Watauga Habitat for
Humanity, WAMY Community Action, Homestead Recovery Center, The Children's Playhouse, The Children's Council, Blowing Rock Cares Food Pantry, Mountain Alliance, Wine to Water.
Faithbridge UMC, Boone UMC, Saint Luke’s Episcopal,First Presbyterian Boone, Rumple Memorial, Saint Mary's Episcopal, any volunteer fire department.
(You can specify funds be used for Hurricane Relief).
We will update these lists as we know more. Thank you isn’t enough, but it’ll have to do
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