Help Rebuild Newport's Snowbird Coffee and The Creamery

Hello. My name is Corey. Less than one year ago my wife Missy and I opened the doors on our two new businesses “The Creamery on Broadway” and “Snowbird Mountain Coffee Co” in downtown Newport. Our hope was to create a bright spot in the mostly forgotten downtown business district and to create a spark that would encourage more small business activity and revitalize a downtown in desperate need of a second chance. The floodwaters of Hurricane Helene now threaten to extinguish that spark.

On Friday, September 27th, our smalltown experienced the worst flood in it’s recorded history. The normally tranquil and serene Pigeon River that flows through downtown was transformed into a raging torrent that ravaged and decimated everything with the misfortune of being in its path. Our community and our businesses were not spared.

Like most small business owners, our shops are all our hopes and dreams forged into reality and then constantly cared for much like an infant child. They are early mornings, long days and sleepless nights. They require constant nurturing and constant sacrifice. They are our passion and aspirations for the future. Not just for our future but for the future of our children and our employees and their families as well. Small business ownership is certainly not for the faint of heart but thus far we have struggled through it and built something that our customers and employees can be proud to be a part of. All of that now hangs in the balance for us. Like most people in this region, we do not have flood insurance. The financial burden to rebuild falls solely on us and to put it frankly, we don’t have the resources to do so. Our source of income has been erased and we are faced with expenses that we cannot overcome alone.

The love and support we have felt from this community from day one has been nothing short of amazing and they continue to offer unwavering support during this tragedy. These are hardworking, salt of the earth people that will give you the shirt right off their back. But I fear with so many in our community sharing in our misfortune we will need donations from generous folks that extend beyond this community.

We are asking for donations to rebuild our businesses:

To return Snowbird Mountain Coffee Co as a hub for Newport to gather.

To bring the joy and laughter of children back to The Creamery on Broadway.

For our employees to get back to work and provide for their families.

To help us bring some life and much needed revitalization to this downtown area.

And to keep our small family business alive so that we can continue to serve this community that we love so much and continue chasing our dream.

Thanks for taking the time to read our story. If I can ask one small favor: If you know us on an individual basis or you have experienced one of our many wonderful employees while visiting us, please share that experience when you share this. We are a company built on kindness and hearing a personal story may encourage folks to donate that are strangers to us.

For the sake of transparency: we decided to collect funds for both businesses together because we thought it would help us reach more eyeballs. The breakdown is about $40k to rebuild The Creamery, it was a total loss. Snowbird faired slightly better due to higher elevation but we have equipment losses of at least $15k plus interior repair and replacement.