Photo credit: StockCake
We’ve heard from many of you asking how to help those impacted by the devastation in Western NC and throughout the Southeast. Now is the time to come together and make a difference!
We have developed this list to be a comprehensive hub of where you can see opportunities to volunteer, give financially and help in specific areas like pets, etc.
If you’re organizing a drive to collect essential items, check out Benevolist, a platform that makes it easy to set up and manage donation efforts.
Let’s support our neighbors in need and spread generosity. Together, we can make an impact!
Volunteering & Giving Opportunities
Looking to get involved with hands-on volunteering or donations to support areas affected by recent disasters? Here are some major relief organizations where you can make an impact:
- Volunteer NC – A hub for connecting volunteers with disaster relief efforts.
- Activate Good – Mobilizing volunteers across the region. Learn more here.
- American Red Cross – Opened over 15 shelters across Western NC and SC. You can volunteer, donate blood, or text ‘Helene’ to 90999 to give.
- Baptists on Mission – Volunteers needed for flood recovery, chainsaw work, and temporary roof repairs.
- NC Hurricane Donations – State Emergency fund
- Salvation Army – Providing meals and support to hard-hit communities.
- Samaritan’s Purse – Responding in the High Country and Eastern Tennessee.
- United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County – The non-profit helps residents connect to a wide array of resources via its 2-1-1 hotline. The local United Way plans to help with immediate natural disaster response and long-term support for flood victims.
Food & Water Support
- Foothills Food Hub – Working to source water and shelf-stable goods to distribute in McDowell County.
- Haywood Christian Ministry – Western North Carolina’s largest food pantry, based in the Waynesville area. The group is distributing food on the ground and requesting donations to help with the emergency disaster response.
- Hearts With Hands (Swannanoa/Asheville) – A local-based organization that has been supplying food and essentials to Buncombe County shelters. The group asks that you do not deliver supplies unannounced to their Swannanoa warehouse (they had to evacuate and are restoring services). The request is for financial donations online.
- Manna FoodBank in Asheville – The organization is distributing food, water, and more at the Asheville Farmers Market. On Oct. 1, donations will be accepted between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. On Oct. 2 through 5, donations will be accepted from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. The following items are requested: Shelf-stable food (pop-top cans preferred, not requiring a can opener), Bottled water, Baby and toddler formula and food, diapers
- Mercy Chefs – The organization is deploying to Western North Carolina to serve prepared meals to volunteers on the ground, first responders, and community members stranded by the disaster.
- Water Mission – The group is starting in Boone and will take aid to the hardest-hit areas of Western North Carolina. Relief items from the Christian engineering non-profit include: generators, supplies, and water treatment equipment.
- Wine to Water – The non-profit is currently servicing Watauga and Avery counties (also hit by Helene in North Carolina) and is expanding to Asheville and Ashe County as soon as possible. Wine to Water distributes food, supplies, water, and hot meals. The group also is handing out water filters – which can safely filter water from springs and creeks for cooking and drinking.
- World Central Kitchen – Providing meals and water in crisis areas.
Shelter & House Information
- Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry – The ministry helped run and provide shelter in Asheville and is partnered with the Red Cross. Donations help pay for motel and food vouchers for local residents and long-term support for those displaced.
- Community Housing Coalition of Madison County – The group will be helping fund emergency home repairs for Helene victims in Madison County. The request is for online donations.
- Foster Family Alliance of North Carolina – The organization plans to deliver items to flood victims in Western North Carolina. Monetary contributions also will help relocate families with foster children to secure accommodations, such as hotels or AirBnBs. Item drop-off locations will be announced on the group’s Facebook page here.
- Homeward Bound in Asheville – The organization provides supportive housing to the homeless community in Asheville and it distributed essentials and clothing as the storm approached.
- Hospitality House Northwest North Carolina – Provides resources for those who are homeless with an option of giving financially
- Mountain Projects – This group has helped with emergency housing, including storm victims.
- ReadyNC.gov – List of emergency shelters by area
University of North Carolina System Support
There are four UNC system colleges in Western North Carolina. System leaders shared the following funds, where donations may be sent to support affected students, faculty, and staff:
Flight-Based Relief Funds and Organizations
- Hope Mill, Inc – Helicopters dropping relief are landing in areas of the mountains where road access is still cut off and/or where emergency crews have not yet reached with food and water. A group of independent pilots with helicopters have been dropping off donated water, food, and supplies throughout the region for several days.
- Hurricane Helene Airlift Relief – Grass-roots organizers are collecting donations of supplies (and money) and staging at various Statesville Airport. There are drop-off points across North Carolina.
- Operation Airdrop – The group is focusing operations on North Carolina after it aided Helene victims in Florida. Pilots and volunteers will deliver essential supplies and food to disaster-stricken areas in the mountains.
Young Kids
- Diaper Bank: Babies Need Bottoms – Asheville – Donations of wipes, diapers, and rash cream are needed immediately. The organization is on the ground already and distributes to local families plus partner charities that serve families and babies.
- Partnership for Appalachian Girls’ Education (PAGE) – The group is on the ground in Marshall collecting monetary donations to support the educational and social-emotional needs of girls following this disaster.
For the Love of Animals
- Brother Wolf Animal Rescue – The organization itself saw its facility destroyed in the disaster. All animals are with foster families. The group is fundraising to help provide animals in foster with essential supplies and more.
- WNC Regional Livestock Center – Based in Canton, the livestock center is working to help farmers and animals who were affected by flooding. You can donate toward helping local farmers who need to buy feed for animals. The center also helps supply fencing and other essentials.
Other Types of Support & Donations
- Americares Emergency Response Team – Donations to Americares Hurricane Helene Relief Fund will support health services for survivors, such as deliveries of medicines and relief supplies and support for damaged health facilities.
- BeLoved Asheville – On-the-ground volunteers are collecting and distributing a wide array of supplies. Cash donations can be sent via: Venmo: BeLoved-Asheville or PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/belovedasheville Specific items are needed, including: food, bottled water, contractor-size trash bags, blankets, first aid supplies, feminine hygiene products, diapers and baby clothes, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, paper towels, bleach, shovels, brooms, gloves, coolers, propane, cook stoves, flashlights, batteries, fans, dehumidifiers, and generators. Volunteers are needed to help deliver supplies. Truck owners and truck drivers are needed. Drop-off and staging updates are available on the organization’s social media pages.
- Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+) – The group is a non-profit arts service organization that provides craft artists with support and resources for disaster and emergency relief. The organization is accepting donations that will help Helene victims in WNC, where there is a dense craft-artist population.
- Democracy Green – Already on the ground in Cleveland, Rutherford, McDowell, Burke, and Watauga counties. Volunteers are needed. Supplies requested includes: water, non-perishable food, grills, charcoal briquettes and matches.
- Reach Out Worldwide – Working hard to clear roads and help remove debris from homes.
- Team Rubicon – Route clearance teams and relief efforts in South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Buncombe County. Volunteers needed immediately.
Eric Church’s song Darkest Hour has been a powerful anthem of hope and resilience for many. He has agreed to give all of the royalties to Hurricane Helene relief efforts in North Carolina. It serves as a reminder that even in the darkest times, we find strength in each other.
Whether donating, volunteering, or sharing this information with others, your support is critical to helping those in need. Let’s show up for our neighbors in their time of greatest need. Every small act of kindness makes a big difference.
Editor’s Note: If your organization would like to be added to the list please email all relevant information to Amy Gardinier at amyg@givefinity.com with the subject line “Hurricane Helene Relief.” Emails must specify: Your name, your organization, non-profit status, and contact email and phone.
