Help Rebuild a Life After Hurricane Helene

Hurricane Helene took my home, my car, my job, and everything I own in one fell swoop.

My name is Natalie Newman, and I have been a part of various Asheville communities for many years. I first came here for a summer to work in wilderness therapy in 2015 while finishing my BA up in Philly, quickly fell in love with the people and the mountains I discovered here, and later moved permanently to work as an artist and art gallery assistant downtown in 2018.

Most recently I lived at 603 Rivers Edge Rd, on the top floor of an apartment building on stilts on banks of the Swannanoa river. I adored this house, and enjoyed floating the river as often as I could on my paddleboard all summer long. I spent the day of September 26th at home, painting and carefully monitoring the water levels all day and night from my house. Noting barely any change in the water levels, I went to sleep at 2am. At 3:45am I sat bolt upright in bed, and saw that the water was suddenly halfway up the stilts to my downstairs neighbor’s unit. It had flash flooded in the middle of the night. I escaped out of the back of my apartment building by climbing up a muddy embankment up to the road on my hands and knees. Armed with only a small overnight backpack (at this point I still had no idea how high the water would get), I walked half a mile through the rain and wind to my car, which was parked up behind the Root Bar (now gone as well) on “high ground” in a soggy field. I was able to maneuver onto the road, then drove my Prius a few miles through the hurricane to a friend’s house. We cowered in the basement listening to trees falling around us for hours. When we emerged later that morning, my car had been smashed by one of the fallen trees. My house was completely washed away, with everything I own in it— including my life’s work of paintings, thousands of dollars in cash savings, sentimental souvenirs from my travels around the world, and literally everything else. Lastly, my beloved workplace, Fae Nectar, also flooded out at Lake Lure.

I am thus raising money as I try to rebuild my life from scratch. I have amazing friends coming through to house me and support me during this time of recovery, but I’m going to need funds for a new vehicle, a new home, and basic living expenses as I figure out where to go from here. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who is able to share and/or contribute as I heal from this. Every little bit of support is noticed and appreciated. Thank you all.

PS: GoFundMe takes a percentage of all donations! If you want to make sure your funds reach me more directly, you can send them here:

Venmo: @Padparadscha (last four digits of my phone are 6977)

CashApp: $NatalieNewman

PayPal: @NNewman222

Thanks again! <3