Help Rebuild after Hurricane Helene

My sister’s shop in Marshall, NC was completely destroyed by the recent hurricane. Without flood insurance, the road to rebuilding will be an uphill battle. What she hasn’t shared below is that this is the second time she’s faced such devastation. After Hurricane Katrina obliterated her home in New Orleans, she sought refuge in the mountains, only to find herself once again in the path of another storm.

Message from Alex:

We are surrounded by the complete devastation of our beautiful region

I don’t know where to begin

The river rose 27 feet through Marshall. Much of the east side of town was washed away. But our employees woke up Saturday without employment. And we have so much work ahead of us and yet no jobs. One of our baristas lived just down the street from the shop and is dealing with the double whammy of also losing their home. I know disaster aid is coming but we’d like to get them funds now so that they don’t have to worry about how to pay for gas or groceries when such things become available. That is our first priority.

After that? I don’t know. The building took a lot of damage. If you know our shop, everything from the bike counter forward is just gone. The back of the shop is buried under 3 to 4 feet of silt and mud. We started digging out yesterday as the flood waters were receding. We managed to pull out a pickup truckload and will be back at it today. I’m not sure how we secure what’s left. The windows are gone, the double side doors no longer close. After seeing to our people, any leftover funding will go to cleanup as we access what, if any, equipment can be salvaged.

There are so many people out there with need greater than ours. But if you like bikes, and you like coffee and want to support from a distance - then this would really help.

We miss you all. We mourn the loss of our little shop and I hope we can be together again sometime soonish.