Please Help us Restore Willow Falls After Hurricane Helene
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Please Help Restore Willow Falls: Rebuilding After Hurricane Helene
Dear Friends and Friends of Friends,
After prayerful consideration I have decided to reach out for help.
Our beloved family home turned Willow Falls NC, our family-run business was severely damaged by Hurricane Helene.
Below is a description of the function of Willow Falls along with the uncovered costs associated with re-opening our family business.
The Immediate Need:
Sadly, Hurricane Helene has left the main home at Willow Falls significantly damaged. The main home is the center of all events at Willow Falls, including the catering space, bridal suite, and guest rooms. The main home needs to be totally restored. We are grateful that our small guest bungalow on the property remains intact.
On September 26th, the day before the hurricane came, we were heartbroken to have to cancel the wedding of a bride checking in that very afternoon. After assessing the damage of the hurricane, it was evident that we needed to close the property and to refund all of the monies collected for our weddings for the rest of the 2024.
The main home on the property was severely flooded. There was 26” inches of water that rose against the home from the rushing waterfall during the storm causing mud and silt to enter practically every room in the house and our catering kitchen below. The home requires extensive renovation. This week we have begun the removal of all of the wood and tile floors in the entire house. Two- Four feet of the drywall in each of the rooms needs to be cut out to prevent mold.
The loss of all revenue for the rest of 2024 from our event venue has put us in the difficult position financially. There are costs not covered by our insurance including the contents of the home, the removal and storing of all of the salvaged furniture in the home, the expensive costs of repairing and rerouting the broken septic line, water line and electrical lines, restoring the collapsed terraces and rock retaining walls, rebuilding the water wheel at the waterfall that was lost downstream, repairing the broken fencing on the reception decks, and replacing our catering kitchen (including appliances that were also destroyed by mud and floodwater).
We immediately applied to FEMA and have applied for an SBA loan but have yet to receive any aid.
Reaching out for financial support is difficult for me, especially as we recognize how many others in WNC are also in such great need. This restoration is not just for us. While Willow Falls does carry a personal legacy and holds future value for my family it also represents something larger. We’ve been deeply touched by the outpouring of love from families who have celebrated their marriages, family gatherings and retreats here over the past ten years and by future couples who envision Willow Falls as their sacred place for their own memorable celebrations. We do have weddings that are booked for 2025, and we are determined that Willow Falls can be restored for them. This is a sanctuary of love and celebration in Western North Carolina, a value we believe is immeasurable for our community’s future. We bring many visitors to our quaint town of Hendersonville N.C. which is also known as “The City of Peace” .
This sense of shared purpose gives us the confidence to humbly ask for your help in restoring Willow Falls. We also pledge to pay this generosity forward, continuing to open our doors to those seeking a place of peace, beauty, and connection.
Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers as we work through this restoration. We will keep you updated on our progress and are thankful for any support that you can offer to us. “We are stronger than the storm” .
*To read my story and personal connection to this sacred property, see “My Story and History with Willow Falls” at the end of this post.
Special Thanks:
In the weeks immediately following the storm it felt like God showed up! Through the help of loving neighbors and volunteers sent to us by “Samaritan's Purse,” Women from “Adult and Teen Challenge", from Chattanooga TN, and volunteers from another wonderful church, from Ocracoke NC. We began to clean up the property.
The following week our dear Friends from “Those Plant Ladies” with “Bowmans Roost Excavating” along with their volunteers, came to help restore the land. So many hearts and hands have sown great love into the outside woods and grounds of the property. Together we were able to clean up the 8 acres of our property of downed trees, storm debris and erosion alongside the waterfall from the rushing water. I could never express my gratitude enough to each and everyone of these new friends, now Family.
forever grateful,
Michele French
Direct Donations and Correspondence may be mailed to:
Willow Falls LLC
PO Box 700
Flat Rock N.C. 28731
Sharing the Experience Willow Falls before Hurricane Helene:
My Story and personal history with Willow Falls . . .
As a single mother of five children with limited resources, I was incredibly blessed to acquire Willow Falls in 1998 through an owner financing arrangement from a very kind gentleman who owned the home. From the very moment I stepped onto this peaceful property, I knew that once my children were all grown that it would one day become a property that would be shared with others.
Before I even had the keys to enter the home, I sat alone, alongside the large cascading waterfall that flowed under the front deck. I opened my Bible to this Psalm 1:3 “And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season, And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.”
Built in 1938 and in need of much care, Willow Falls became a labor of love, with skilled friends and family helping to restore it bit by bit. Over time, it revealed its purpose—a shared sanctuary for love and celebration.
When I later married my husband Hans on this property we both realized that Willow Falls was in fact destined to become a place where couples and families could celebrate their own love. Friends held their weddings and family reunions here and eventually, our son Blake married his wife Lauren on the property. For the past ten years Willow Falls has become a cherished place that we have been honored to share with others.
thank you for believing with me, michele
Organizer
Willow Falls LLC
Organizer
Flat Rock, NC