Rebuild Asheville: Support the Local & MADabolic Community

Help Us Rebuild: Support the MADabolic Asheville Community

Dear Friends,

As we come together in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, our MADabolic Asheville community is reaching out for support. Many of our members, as well as the greater Asheville area, have been significantly impacted by the storm, facing challenges like power outages, water shortages, and damage to homes and businesses.

Why We’re Raising Funds - Washington Post Article

Our goal is to raise $50,000+ to directly support MADabolic community members and those in the Asheville area who are struggling during this difficult time. Your generous donations will help provide essential resources, including:

Immediate relief supplies: Water, food, hygiene products, and other necessities. There is another truckload being delivered this Saturday from Charlotte full of supplies.

Support for local MAD community members: Helping our people get on their feet by providing funds to support recovery.

Support for local businesses: Helping our local economy recover by providing grants to affected businesses, including but not limited to, MAD Perks Partners and those owned by MAD AVL members.

Community events: Organizing gatherings that will foster connection and resilience as we rebuild together.

How You Can Help

Every donation, big or small, makes a difference. If you're unable to contribute financially, we encourage you to share this campaign with your friends and family to help us reach our goal. Together, we can show our strength and commitment to our community.

Thank you for your support, compassion, and generosity during this challenging time. Let’s rebuild Asheville together!

Oversight of donations and distribution will be handled by a three-person committee consisting of MAD AVL staff, members and local AVL business owners. They will create a simple, transparent system to organize and distribute resources quickly to support those in need.

The early stories coming in are devastating, with many more to likely come. Here are just a few experiences from some members of our MAD AVL community:

Caroline, a member lost her business. “My studio was fully submerged and everything was destroyed. I am going to have to take a pivot in life and start all over…If you own a piece of pottery by me, cherish it extra special for me ✨ All my inventory is most likely lost”

Laney's family home was completely flooded. “It is absolutely devastating. I am so glad to be okay and thankful we lived up on the hill as everything below us was destroyed. For anyone looking for someone in Asheville there is no cell service, no water, and no power. Please give it some time. A lot of people are safe but either have no cell service or gas to get out. It was amazing to see the community come together the way it did from helping people get out of the apartments below to navigating the fire department to the roof to get the man off we saw stranded. I am worried about the people still there. If you can help in any way, please do… I know there are talks of water stations but none set up as of now. The water system is catastrophically damaged and so we have no idea what the future holds. My mom and dad's house was completely flooded but everyone is safe.”

Rebecca's family was rescued by helicopter from their area. More details to come here.

MacKenzie's family is stranded driving 30 minutes for cell service. Their whole town (right outside of Asheville) is devasted, they have to have people deliver supplies as they care for a family member on oxygen.

From Lauren and Kris: “It hurts my heart to write this because I genuinely don’t like asking for help but this time I truly don’t know what the future holds. We are safe but our cars are stuck at home due to multiple down trees and power lines down. We are out of power, water until further notice. My workplace is destroyed and I don’t know when I will be back to working. We have rented a car for the next two weeks and are heading to Charleston, SC. Hopefully we come home to accessibility to our vehicles. With both Kris and I out of work and kids out of school we are traveling with no income coming in for a bit. Any donation will help us to get through this horrific disaster.”

Kelvis, a MAD team member. He was stuck between landslides, supporting others in recovering people and waiting 3 days with no food or gas until he could move to safer ground.

Joe and Elly. First floor completely under water, whole apartment got condemned and are being displaced out of their homes.

From Hannah: “My husband David and I have lived in Buncombe County our entire lives. I grew up in Black Mountain and he grew up in Haw Creek. We have never encountered weather to this degree and never expected to, neither has the generation before us. I’ve seen a lot of people ask “Why did so many people stay? Why wasn’t WNC more prepared?” We are very active with local and national news, we have social media, we are very involved in our community and we never heard anything about this kind of weather coming our way. We spent Thursday mostly very normal, it rained all day but was easily drivable and everything was open. We saw some news of a “tropical storm heading our way” but that was the extent of it. The first time we got an alert on our phone was Thursday night at 11pm. It said we were expecting flash floods and evacuation was optional and at that point it was too late to leave. On Friday when we woke up we had no idea what was out there. We had no power and knew the wind was bad and rain was intense but it wasn’t anything outside of our normal weather patterns we get from time to time. It wasn’t until we heard the screaming from our house that we knew something was terribly wrong. We walked about 1/4 of a mile down to our neighborhood gas station and it was gone, under 30 feet of rushing water. There were several people, screaming and begging us to save them, hanging from trees and sitting on floating pieces of debris. We were completely helpless and stranded. My 6- and 4-year old witnessed horrific things that will always affect them. We watched this woman trapped wailing, waiting to be rescued for 12 hours. We checked on her countless times throughout the day and felt absolutely helpless. When she was finally rescued she had a broken femur and was in liver failure. After the flooding finally died down we were left with feet of mud and destruction everywhere. All of the places we have grown up loving are unrecognizable. The creeks I used to catch crawdads in, now the lakes my son loved to fish in, are now muddy ravines. The restaurants and coffee shops where we have close relationships with the owners and employees are nothing but a pile of debris. History and art all of our town is gone and will never be the same. We finally were able to evacuate after trying and failing 2 previous times. There was zero law enforcement in Swannanoa making sure our town was safe and stayed within the law. It began to be extremely dangerous for our family to stay which was such a jarring experience because of how safe the area has always been. Our family’s coin shop was broken into and destroyed. No one did anything to stop the men who looted it. The other businesses have also been looted and there was no one stopping them aside from business owners defending their property with gunshots. For almost three full days we heard sirens, helicopter propellers and gunshots constantly. They never stopped. We went from living very normal lives to immediately being dropped into a war zone. David and I have raised a considerable amount of money and we made over 100 blessing bags full of a variety of essentials and he made the journey back home to distribute them to our neighborhood. As of right now our lives are completely on pause, we are waiting for power and water with no real idea of when that will be restored.”

We also have many local businesses in our community that are unable to operate, or have been damaged beyond repair. Some owned by MAD members, our Perks Partners, and many others that are staples of our beloved AVL community.

Greenhouse

Members Chuck (owner), Kris, Sam, and Alex all work there and will be impacted

Chuck and his wife Dre are the owners: IG post

Flow at Foundy

Yoga studio and MAD AVL Perks Partner

Just opened this past March, located in the River Arts District

Was completely submerged and now destroyed

IG post

SOR

MAD AVL Perks Partner

Staff member: Jenna Shaw

Lost everything: house, cars, clothes

Almost lost her life trying to evacuate

Lives in Swannanoa (5 minutes east of Asheville), whole town was submerged and now completely destroyed

Their description of Friday: “Before dawn, they said, they awoke to walk their dog and saw water creeping up the yard. In less than an hour, as the water rose more than 4 feet, they scrambled to flee with their dog and three cats. At one point, realizing they were running out of time, Dancy screamed down the street to where he could see a member of the National Guard. The soldier tried to reach them but couldn’t in the fast-moving current. “It was so fast,” said Shaw, 29, who was floating on the couple’s bed at one point. “We called 911, and it wouldn’t go through.” Dancy and Shaw thought about retreating to the attic but realized they would be trapped if the water kept rising. Dancy’s truck soon floated away. Finally, the couple loaded their cats into a plastic bin and went out of their bedroom together into the rising current of the Swannanoa River. “We thought, ‘If we don’t get out now, we’re not getting out. “We are beyond lucky,” Dancy, 32, recalled. “There really was a moment there when we thought, 'We aren’t going to make it.’”

Zillicoah Beer Co

Local brewery and frequent location for MAD socials. They were completely flooded and all of their equipment washed away. Our own Head of Culture/Coach Dara worked there, and now they have no timetable on when/if they can rebuild.

"I have been lucky enough to call Z my place of work for over 2.5 years now. Patrons and regulars have become friends. Our small staff has become family. The whole community is mourning the loss of this outstanding special place. Our 3 owners (2 brothers) grew up together and started this business 7 years ago after learning their craft through other local breweries. My heart breaks for them, as they are the most supportive managers/ owners I have ever worked for. Hopefully this will just be a pause and Z will be able to resume, coming back stronger than ever."

________________

***These are just a few of the situations shared by members in our community, and there are many more to be heard. This is in no way a complete list. We are doing our best to keep track of our members and local businesses within the MAD community who need assistance.

As we receive donations, our goal is to provide them to those in need as efficiently and transparently as possible. If you are a member of the MADabolic community who needs assistance, please contact us through this page.***