Donate to Lorie and Allan's Recovery Efforts

Lorie and Allan Buchanan are like family to me. Instead of thinking of themselves after they lost everything, they jumped in and turned their Mountain City daycare into a home complete with beds and hot meals for locals who have also lost everything and for locally working linemen who have left their homes to help us. I asked them early on if I could create a Go-Fund-Me and they said no at first. Then they met with the FEMA inspector and learned that their home will have to be demolished. We had it listed as they were finally getting ready to retire....and since they weren't in a flood zone they did not have flood insurance.

It took three houses slamming into the bridge I'm pointing at to force the water flow from the small creek out front to flood their home. It was a total of 12 minutes from the time the houses flew past them in their front yard until their home was flooded up to about 3 feet. The church across the street has been completely destroyed. The remnants of the homes have been cleaned up already, and the roofs were severed and floated downstream. Yikes!

Lorie ran back into the house to get Al's meds and some important items and got stuck in the mud. Allen, recovering from a heart attack a few weeks back rushed through the currents of the incoming water, hoisted her over his shoulders as she protested...."set me down, you just had a heart attack." That's when he pulled out her middle name..."Lorie Ann Buchanan....." and the rest is history. They slept in their jeep up their dirt road behind the house for two nights before getting rescued.

Meantime, instead of worrying about their loss, they created this amazing shelter and make-shift home for over 20 in need. Each bed has a goodie bag of needs on it, full bedding and they cook hot meals each night for their guests, linemen and locals.

True Story. So when you donate, you are not only helping Lorie and Al, you are helping them help their community!