Support 43 Asheville Dancers Affected By Hurricane Helene

Our stage names are April and Korra - we both live in Asheville, and work as dancers at the Treasure Club of Asheville. We are raising funds for ourselves and 41 other dancers who live and/or work in Asheville and the surrounding areas that have been impacted by the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. Our lives have been completely disrupted; we are all out of a job and a safe place to live.

Western North Carolina and parts of Tennessee were largely destroyed due to the flooding. Even without physical damage, homes still lack electricity, running water, and cell service. Many roads, including I-40, are closed with no clear timeline on when it will be fixed. Many of us have had to leave the area for the time being.

Our fundraising goal of $120,000 is huge, but will cover one month's worth of basic living expenses for 43 local dancers. Ideally, we'd like to be able to support the local dancer community in being able to take care of their families, pay rent, travel expenses, food, and other basic needs.

The majority of the dancers we are collecting donations for work at the Treasure Club of Asheville on Swannanoa River Rd. Unfortunately, the club is situated right next to the Swannanoa River and has very severe flood damage. Thankfully, the structure is still standing, but the interior will have to be completely rebuilt which leaves us with no club in Asheville for the foreseeable future. We were told that it could hopefully be back up in running in a few months, but there is no definitive timeline for the renovations.

Additionally, this Gofundme includes dancers who live in Asheville but commute over an hour to clubs in Johnson City, TN or Greenville, SC. These dancers have also been displaced by the flooding and are forced to live and work elsewhere while Asheville is being repaired and rebuilt.

At the time of writing, we plan to distribute all donated funds equitably, based on expressed needs from a poll sent out to our coworkers. Based on the responses we received, most people fall into one of three different tiers. However, we plan to check in with everyone to make sure this feels good and fair as we get closer to reaching our goal and distributing the funds. Communication is on a slightly slower pace than usual, because most people still cannot consistently use their phone.