Help Rebuild The Gardners Homested after Hurricane Helene

This Is not something we would normally do… but God told me he Has a Greater plan… and that plan includes letting others help. So I’m following HIS lead and sharing a bit of our story. My name is Robin Gardner, I live in Old Fort NC with my Loving, and oh so strong husband Matt, and our 2 Amazing kids Dixie & Mason. After 18 years of building little by little… Raising our children and building our lives…. sometimes/most times building out of nothing… We found ourselves homeless. Homeless… as I type that it still doesn’t seem real. We lost our home, as well as the Happy Little Hippy-Sted to Helene we have lived here since our first born “Dixie” was 6 weeks old, she turns 18 on 10-20… her whole life has been in that house. We brought our son Mason home from the hospital there. All their firsts were there…. Our whole BEAUTIFUL LIFE was there The ol Hippy-Sted is where so many friends, family and strangers have come and learned about Love and friendship, animals, plants, food and herbal medicine and GOOD EATIN. It was a gathering place for many. Peace, love and finding the joy in the simpler things is what it was built on. Where you could come take a load off… let the kids run wild and get dirty, where you could unwind and decompress by the fire. Play some corn hole and do some Karaoke. We had so many dreams for the future that were just now beginning to take form and get off the ground.

Now it’s all gone and back to square one. Thanks to Helene, I have had to rehome all the animals. All 5 goats, 9 rabbits, the pig (we’re still looking for somewhere for Happy to live out her days in peace and tranquility. She came to us after falling off an 18wheeler in Pennsylvania…. Then swam for over an hour during Helene. She has been through a lot and is a survivor), the chickens, ducks, peacock and the cockatiels. We were able to take the dogs and cat with us to the camper we will be living in ( graciously provided by Catawba Falls Campground in Old Fort NC) until we can rebuild. My heart is so broken for the loss of my animal babies and our home and so many of our irreplaceable personal belongings. But I know God will continue to make a way and we WILL REBUILD… come Hell or Highwater On top of the loss of our house, and farm…. My mother lost her home (her 5th wheel camper) that was permanently set up on our property. We lost 5 vehicles, a motor cycle…. 2 storage buildings, Matt’s tool shed, my craft building and a boat. Everything.

We had just paid off the house and had no home owners insurance yet‍♀️ Matt, my husband is so very talented and can build the whole house from the ground up…. But it’s gonna take dirt, machines & materials and that will take MONEY. We are so fortunate to still have a piece of land to rebuild on unlike so many others, and we have been blessed beyond measure to have friends and neighbors and complete strangers that has supplied all our day to day essentials. I Am forever grateful for the GOODNESS of God even in the midst of such devastation. If you feel led to donate we will put it to GOOD USE!! Any money donated will be used to purchase block, concrete, rebar, screws, nails, brackets, lumber, materials to rebuild our Home and fencing and animal pen replacement for the Homestead. so we can get back to our dream and mission of sharing the beauty and joy of a simpler life living off the land, like God intended.