Help Asheville Empire Youth Lacrosse 501(c)3 Helene Recovery

My name is Drew Koch.

I serve as the president of the board of a Western North Carolina non-profit called Asheville Empire Lacrosse (EIN: 82-2471093).

The organization is all about growing the game among K-12th grade girls and boys in low-cost, accessible, and high-quality ways.

Helene hit us hard.

Our playing fields are under 1-to-3 feet of mud.

8 of our 12 goals are gone, and the 4 that remain are covered in a toxic mud.

Who knew a chemical plant was upstream from our fields and that when flash floods obliterate chemical plants they deposit the toxic contents everywhere?

In addition, many families need to prioritize other costs over our modest-but-needed fees for participation. So, we have refunded or not collected a lot of the modest fees for service that players had committed this fall.

In some cases, players' equipment (not inexpensive) was damaged or lost due to the flooding -- this is yet another barrier to participation.

But our families are also telling us that their children need lacrosse as a therapeutic outlet during these stressful times - a period where many kids have been out of school for over a month because of the flooding.

So, I am turning to the GoFundMe community to ask those who are inclined, and able, to make a modest donation to Empire.

We will use the monies to replace lost goals, fund field procurement in areas not in flood plains, and help cover costs for players who are unable to cover them on their own over the months / years ahead.

It may strike some as silly to be asking for support for a non-profit youth lacrosse program in Western, NC right now.

But for our participants, this can truly be medicine.

We appreciate anything the GoFundMe community might be able to do.

Thanks for considering this.

Drew

Andrew Koch

Board President

Asheville Empire Lacrosse