Help Keep the Helpers Helping

UPDATE 10/5/24: Thanks from the bottoms of our broken hearts for your donations and contributions so far. We are funding needs as they arise and working tirelessly to get critical supplies into folks' hands.

We plan to keep going.

For those of you who might not know us, we are Meg, Josh and Juniper Winnecour, and we've lived in Asheville for 22 years. Lifelong Outward Bounders with helper hearts, Josh is a nurse, program director and educator. I'm an artist and educator, and our daughter is a compassionate and skilled teenager who gets things done. Our amazing and skilled Outward Bound friends Betsy, Pandora, Bella, and Nona took time off work and school and flew down from Massachusetts to help. We love WNC and want to do everything we can to help. We know people are suffering and are working to bring them relief immediately; thanks to your loving contributions, we can.

As Asheville and the surrounding areas shift into clean-up and rebuild, our needs are shifting. What we need now is supplies for living without running/clean water or sound houses: gray water stations in every neighborhood and community center, buckets for transporting gray water to toilets, tents and sleeping bags because freezing temps are forecasted, and camping stoves and fuel.

Yesterday we delivered freezers and sturdy ice packs and freezable water bottles to Barnardsville so folks without power can keep food and medications cold.

While we wait for an infusion of donations, we are using our skills, saws and chainsaws to help clear debris to make way for linemen and cranes to remove trees from roofs as well as driving all over WNC to pick up donated goods, food, and water.

We are currently trying to buy thousands of 5 gallon buckets and pitchers for gray water, thousands of cinder blocks for supporting gray water tanks, and enough camping gear for folks who lost everything.

We need to extend rental on our two EXTREMELY useful box trucks, as well as keep them fueled.

We will keep delivering goods to people in outlying communities as well as our own neighbors.

We are nervous to lose 4 of our hardworking crew, but Pandora, Betsy, Bella and Nona have to go home to their jobs and families. But don't worry, beloved Outward Bounders are stepping in as part of the crew.

If you're moved to contribute, we will be forever grateful and so glad to put your generosity to work.

With love,

Josh, Juniper and Meg

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Sept. 30, 2024

Dear ones,

Thank you so much for reaching out with love and concern. We are safe and sound, and though we are without power and water, our home is in tact. We are grateful beyond measure, especially seeing so much devastation all around us. Because we can, we want to be of service.

For those of you who might not know us, we are Meg, Josh and Juniper Winnecour, and we've lived in Asheville for 22 years. Lifelong Outward Bounders with helper hearts, Josh is a nurse, program director and educator. I'm an artist and educator, and our daughter is compassionate and skilled teenager who gets things done.

Swathes of Asheville are underwater. Homes, businesses, livelihoods, and people are lost. The river is heavily polluted, and the tons of mud it leaves behind will be, too. This is devastation beyond anything most of us have ever experienced in our lifetimes. It's time to get cleaning.

Josh, Juniper, and I are working to turn our home into a resource hub and base of operations for our community and neighborhood by driving a box truck from Atlanta back to AVL with hundreds of gallons of water, small generators, fresh food, cleaning supplies, and water purifiers on Wednesday. Josh and Juniper are driving all over ATL today to gather supplies. Dear Outward Bound friends are flying in to be of service in the wider community, bringing valuable supplies with them, like water purification tablets and filters, headlamps, batteries, and solar chargers.

Thanks to you all for reaching out and asking how you can help. If you're so moved, we'd be grateful for any contribution to this effort you can make. Your donations will both purchase supplies like water, generators, gas and propane, food, hygiene products, cleaning supplies, etc as well as allow us to cook and distribute hot meals for folks. We will use these to keep our Asheville neighbors in supply and distribute things like gas cans, hygiene supplies and headlamps to folks who have a hard time getting to water and gas.

Our aim is to keep the helpers supplied with resources they need to keep helping.

If there is any money left over after the purchase of these tons of supplies, we will donate it to local relief efforts on the ground in Asheville.

Thank you from the bottom of our helper hearts for chipping in. We feel your love and care and are so ready to put it to good use serving our community.

In deep gratitude,

Meg, Josh, and Juniper