Please Help the Miljour Family Rebuild after Helene

Patrick Miljour is organizing this fundraiser.

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Hello. My name is Patrick Miljour. My wife, Mari, and I have spent the last 27 years of our lives building a beautiful retreat for our family and friends at Ivy River Lodge. On September 27, Hurricane Helene literally swept it all away. We lost all of our cabins, including my daughter's adorable home, and the cabin my parents have lived in six months of the year for the last 20 years to escape the harsh winters in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Everything we have worked for, for so long, was completely decimated. We are devastated. Besides the cabins, I lost about 80% of my tools, and our bridge washed away. We are blessed to be alive and have a roof over our heads, but we need help. It's become very obvious that insurance isn't going to even come close to what we actually lost.

It's so hard for me to ask for help because I am the one that is usually out there helping everybody else. Right after Hurricane Katrina, Mari and I loaded up a trailer FULL of supplies and I headed down to Mississippi (twice!) to help out. We were there before the National Guard or the Red Cross got there. The destruction there was unbelievable, but what I've seen in Western North Carolina is catastrophic on a completely different level. Unfortunately, we are now the ones who need help.

The money we are hoping to raise will go towards building a new bridge. We've spent the last couple of weeks canoeing ourselves and supplies (like a generator and propane tanks) across the river to get to and from our house. We now have a temporary ford going through a very large body of water. (The river has doubled in size!) So now, as the temperatures drop, we can drive my big truck across. However, if we get any substantial rain, that will be washed downstream like everything else. We are also hoping to acquire a 12,000 to 15,000 lb. track hoe, so we can clear the mountains of debris that were deposited here. This will be way more cost effective than paying someone else $1800.00 a day. We know this a lot to ask, but it's not even going to come close to building the bridge that we had.

hat's left of our bridge.

I just want to thank each and everyone of you for anything you can do and thank you for sharing this with anyone who might want to help. This is going to be a huge project. It's not going to be done in a week, a month, or even a year. We need all the help we can get and appreciate any donations or good vibes you care to send our way.

Thank you so much!