Help Ashe County flood victims rebuild from Helene

My name is Eddie Hunnell. I was raised in Durham and Raleigh. I just moved back to NC from Colorado and now live in Holly Springs, NC as of a month ago. I was at our son Austin Hunnell's wedding this weekend when Hurricane Helene hit the mountains of NC. My life was intertwined with a few incredible people who lost everything to the flooding from Helene. I am raising money to try to partially recoup what they lost. I did not meet any of these people until Friday 9/27/24. They were neighbors of the River House Inn in Grassy Creek, NC. And now they are forever mixed in with our family and our son's wedding.

Leslie Worth was trapped in her home about 200 yards upstream of the River House Inn in Grassy Creek, NC. Her husband Phil was outside and could not get to her. Leslie is 67 and Phil is 70. They are both retired. Everything they owned but his cars was either in the house or underwater. Our son was due to get married at the River House Inn on Saturday. On Friday was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner - and Hurricane Helene. While preparing for the rehearsal and watching the rain come down and the river rise, we heard about Leslie being trapped in her house. Everyone ran over to see if we could help. The water was running so fast and up about 15 feet at the time. We did not have a way to get Leslie out. Leslie was wearing a life vest. I yelled to her that if the house started moving, to jump downstream ahead of the house. About 2 minutes later, the roof of another house floated down the New River and hit the Worths' house. Two minutes after that, their house came off the foundation. It crashed into a couple of trees 30' downstream. At this point, the house started coming apart and dumping its contents into the river. I yelled to Leslie to jump in. And she did. I was in a canoe and tried to row to her. But I could not control the canoe sufficiently with the current and the wind blowing. I also had a life vest on and did not see another way to help. So I jumped in. I was able to meet her as she came down the fast current. The next 200 yards had very fast-moving water and had obstructions (tennis court surrounded by a fence, and then some trees). There was no use doing anything but riding that part out. Below the trees and next to the River House Inn was a 200-yard stretch without obstructions on the River House side. I asked Leslie to lean back and I swam sidestroke as hard as I could, pulling on her life vest collar. While we were about 40 feet out, after about 20 feet, the current almost stopped and then there was a back eddy over the former lawn of the River House Inn. I knew then we would make it. Ten more feet and I could touch the ground. We walked out of the river to everyone's relief.

These people are some of the nicest people in the world. They are hardworking residents of Ashe County and lost everything to Helene. I am trying to raise money to help them build back their life. My goal is to raise $200,000 to put towards rebuilding their home. More than that amount would be incredible with today's inflation and building costs. Please help me give back to these incredible people. 100% of the funds will go directly to the Worths to rebuild.

Thank you for your generosity and kindness.

Eddie Hunnell